KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Simmons College women's soccer team has been named a recipient of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Team Academic Award for the 2015-16 academic year it was announced today. The honor is given to soccer programs throughout the United States for exemplary performance in the classroom as a team.
To qualify for the award, the team must have a minimum grade point average of 3.0 or higher for the entire academic year. The team GPA is determined by adding every player's GPA, then dividing by the number of players.
The Sharks posted a 3.59 grade point average, which ranks as the 38th-highest out of 587 schools and within the top six percent in the nation. Simmons earned the highest team-GPA of any school in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference.
The Sharks boasted 23 soccer student-athletes with a 3.50 GPA or higher.
Celebrating its 75th Anniversary in 2016, the National Soccer Coaches Association was founded in 1941 and is based in Kansas City, Mo. It is a non-profit organization with the mission of advocating for, educating and serving soccer coaches to encourage excellence and elevate the game.
The NSCAA is the world's largest soccer coaches' organization with members at every level of the game from youth to professional. Benefits of membership are wide ranging including a national coaching education program, $1 million of general liability insurance, recognition for players and coaches as All Americas and Coaches of the Year, the annual NSCAA Convention, networking and mentor opportunities, Soccer Journal magazine and much more. To learn more, visit www.nscaa.com.
Simmons finished the 2015 season with a 9-10-0 overall record, including 8-3-0 in GNAC play and earned the number three seed for the conference championship tournament.