Feb. 11, 2009

GREENSBORO, N.C. – North Carolina senior Yael Averbuch has been named the Atlantic Coast Conference Women’s Soccer Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the second straight year and leads the 2008 ACC Women’s Soccer All-Academic Team announced today by Commissioner John D. Swofford.

All 11 league schools that compete in women’s soccer are represented on the ACC All-Academic Team, which includes six student-athletes that were named first-, second- or third-team All-America, four All-ACC first-team selections, seven players who were named to the All-ACC second team and three that were named to the ACC All-Freshmen team. The honorees also include a number of players who received national or regional academic honors.

The 2008 Women’s Soccer Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award is another in a long list for Averbuch, an All-America midfielder who helped North Carolina (25-1-1) to its 19th NCAA Championship in 2008. In addition to her athletic accolades, the Upper Montclair, N.J., native is also a recipient of the prestigious NCAA Top VIII Award and was named 2008 Women’s Soccer Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the National Soccer Coaches of America (NSCAA) and 2008 Women’s Soccer Academic All-American of the Year by ESPN the Magazine.

The ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards were established in September 2007 to be awarded annually to the top junior or senior student-athlete in their respective sports. Candidates for the awards must have maintained a 3.0 grade point average for their career as well as a 3.0 for each of the last two semesters.

Averbuch is joined on the 2008 Women’s Soccer All-Academic Team by three other four-time honorees – Christie McDonald of Duke, Katrin Schmidt of Florida State and Tami Krzeszewski of NC State. The 2008 ACC Women’s Soccer All-Academic Team includes 21 total student-athletes who were also honored at the conclusion of at least one previous season.

To be eligible for consideration, a student-athlete must have earned a 3.00 grade point average for the previous semester and maintained a 3.00 cumulative average during her academic career.

The 2008 All-ACC Academic Women's Soccer team is as follows: