ST. LOUIS -- The University of Evansville's Kayla Lambert, an ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American, highlights this year's Missouri Valley Conference Women's Soccer Scholar-Athlete First Team. She and teammate Julie Winkler earned selection to the league's first-team scholar-athlete unit for a third straight season. Also making the first team was UE senior Nicole Moyen. Evansville and Creighton were the only schools to put three players on the scholar-athlete first team.
Lambert, a forward from Las Vegas, Nev., was the 2008 Missouri Valley Player of the Year, State Farm MVC Tournament MVP, and set the all-time league scoring record with 132 points by scoring 51 goals and making 30 assists. She has been a three-time all-region selection, and is a contender for the 2008 NSCAA All-America Team. Academically, Lambert has a 3.56 grade point average while majoring in marketing.
A total of 40 student-athletes were nominated for the Valley's scholar-athlete team. The criteria for the honor parallels the CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) standards for Academic All-America voting. Nominees must be starters or important reserves with at least a 3.00 cumulative gpa (on a 4.00 scale). Also, students must have participated in at least 75 percent of the regular-season matches. Student-athletes must have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at their institution (true freshmen and redshirt freshmen were not eligible) and must have completed at least one full academic year at their institution.
FIRST TEAM
Yr. Pos. GPA Major Hometown / High School
Erin Bianchi, Indiana State Jr. D 4.00 Nursing Mansfield (Ohio) Lexington High
Kristen Casey, Creighton Sr. GK 3.56 Journalism / Graphic Design Omaha (Neb.) Westside High
**Marcy Gans, Creighton Sr. F 3.30 Exercise Science / Pre-Med Raymore (Mo.) Archbishop O'Hara High
Amanda Gogel, Indiana State Sr. F 3.27 Mathematics Ferdinand (Ind.) Forest Park High
Chelsie Hochstedler, UNI So. M 3.17 Business Marion (Iowa) Linn Mar
***Kayla Lambert, Evansville Sr. F 3.56 Management Las Vegas (Nev.) Palo Verde High
Melissa Lewis, Drake Jr. F 3.80 Liberal Arts Edina (Minn.) High
Nicole Moyen, Evansville Sr. M 3.55 Movement Science San Jose (Calif.) Presentation
Mel Routledge, Illinois State Sr. F 3.35 Elementary Education Calgary (Alberta, Canada) Bishop Grandin
Caroline Sweeney, Missouri State Sr. F 3.71 English Education Overland Park (Kan.) St. Thomas Aquinas
Lindsay Vaught, Creighton Sr. F/M 3.88 Pharmacy Olathe (Kan.) Olathe North High
***Julie Winkler, Evansville Sr. M 3.95 Movement Science / Pre-physical therapy Florissant (Mo.) St. Joseph Academy
*indicates number of consecutive years named first-team scholar-athlete
HONORABLE MENTION
Yr. Pos. GPA Major Hometown / High School
Samantha Aguilar, Missouri State Jr. M 3.22 Speech Language Pathology Lenexa (Kan.) Olathe North High
Kara Murphy, Evansville Sr. D 3.41 Health Services Administration St. Louis (Mo.) Nerinx Hall
Alyssa Ramsey, Indiana State Sr. D 3.68 Marketing Brecksville (Ohio) Walsh Jesuit High
Raquel Rattray, Illinois State Jr. M 3.69 English Evanston (Ill.) Evanston Township High
Jenny Schroeder, Drake Jr. GK 3.50 Sociology / Business minor Albuquerque (N.M.) Sandia High
Jessica Smits, Missouri State Jr. M 3.41 Exercise / Movement Science Jenks (Okla.) High
Claire Zach, Creighton So. M/D 3.95 Pre-Med Omaha (Neb.) Marian High
