2023 Women’s Soccer NAIA Scholar-Athletes
SEWARD, Neb. – As announced by the NAIA on Friday (Nov. 24), a group of 11 Bulldogs from the Concordia University Women’s Soccer program landed on the 2023 Daktronics NAIA Scholar-Athlete honor roll. The list includes repeat award winners in Lilley Barber, Emily Howard, Senna McMullen, Molly Roberts, Taylor Slaymaker and Katelyn Smith. First time honorees are Savannah Andrews, Hannah Kile, Niah Kirchner, Zoe Lavigne and Grace Soenksen.
The 2023 list of women’s soccer honorees nationally includes 1,443 student-athletes. In order to be nominated by an institution’s head coach or sports information director, a student-athlete must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale, must appear on the eligibility certificate for the sport and have attended one full year at said institution.
In his first season leading the program, Head Coach Nick Smith guided the Bulldogs to a 13-4-3 overall record and a second place GPAC regular season finish. Eight Concordia players were recognized with All-GPAC accolades, including first teamers in Andrews, Kierstynn Garner, Kile, Kirchner and Soenksen (GPAC Defensive Player of the Year). Recently, four of those standouts were named Academic All-District selections by College Sports Communicators: Andrews, Kile, Kirchner and Soenksen.
Concordia University ranks as the NAIA’s all-time leader in number of Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes with 2,322 entering the 2023-24 academic year. The school record for number of Scholar-Athletes in one academic year is 226 achieved in 2019-20. Concordia has been a regular national leader for both Scholar-Athletes and Scholar-Teams.
2023 Concordia Women’s Soccer Scholar-Athletes
· Savannah Andrews (Gretna, Neb.)
· Lilley Barber (Overland Park, Kan.)
· Emily Howard (Overland Park, Kan.)
· Hannah Kile (Lincoln, Neb.)
· Niah Kirchner (Omaha, Neb.)
· Zoe Lavigne (Anaheim, Calif.)
· Senna McMullen (Olathe, Kan.)
· Molly Roberts (Columbus, Neb.)
· Taylor Slaymaker (Kearney, Neb.)
· Katelyn Smith (Omaha, Neb.)
· Grace Soenksen (Lincoln, Neb.)