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:

Name, Class, School	Pos.	Major
Julia Bouchelle, Fr., Boston College	M	Undeclared
Brooke Knowlton, So, Boston College	F	Undeclared
Alyssa Pember, Fr., Boston College	D	Undeclared
Caroline Walden, Sr. Boston College	D	Human Development
**Julie Bolt, Sr., Clemson	F	Counselor Education
Lindsey Jackson, Jr., Clemson	D	Health Science
*Molly Johnson, Sr., Clemson	D	Marketing
Kendall Bradley, So., Duke	M	Undeclared
KayAnne Gummersall, Jr., Duke	F	Political Science
**Kelly Hathorn, Sr., Duke	D	Psychology
#Christie McDonald, Sr., Duke	D	English
Cody Newman, Fr., Duke	M	Undeclared
*Lorraine Quinn, Sr. Duke	M	Sociology
**Becky Edwards. Jr., Florida State	D	Business
*Marissa Kazbour, So., Florida State	M	Sports Management
#Katrin Schmidt, Sr., Florida State	D	International Affairs
*Sanna Talonen, So., Florida State	F	Social Sciences
Mary Casey, Jr., Maryland	GK	Kinesiological Science
Caitlin McDowell, So., Maryland	M	Undeclared
Corynn Carino, Sr., Miami	D	International Studies
*Brittney Macdonald, So., Miami	D	Biology
Julianne Rickers, Fr., Miami	F	Business
*Lauren Singer, So., Miami	F	Sport Administration
*Brittney Steinbruch, So., Miami	M	Sport Administration
#Yael Averbuch, Sr., North Carolina	M	Psychology
**Whitney Engen, Jr., North Carolina	D	Political Science
**Kristi Eveland, Jr., North Carolina	D	Business Administration
*Ashlyn Harris, Jr., North Carolina	GK	Communication Studies
Ali Hawkins, Jr., North Carolina	M	Political Science
*Meghan Klingenberg, So., North Carolina	M	Undeclared
**Anna Rodenbough, Sr., North Carolina	GK	Applied Sciences/Biomedical Engineering
Paige Dugal, Fr., NC State	F	Biomedical Engineering
#Tami Krzeszewski, Sr., NC State	M	Social Work
Celeste Miles, Sr., Virginia	GK	Economics
Robin Chidester, Jr., Virginia Tech	F	Communication
Jennifer Harvey, So, Virginia Tech	M	Chemistry
Kim Hickey, Sr., Virginia Tech	D	Human Nutrition/Foods & Exercise
Emily Jukich, Jr., Virginia Tech	F	Political Science
**Laurie Beth Puglisi, Sr. Virginia Tech	F	Marketing
Camelyn Dillon, Sr., Wake Forest	M	HES/Spanish
Caitlin Farrell, Jr., Wake Forest	D	Communication
**Allie Sadow, Jr. Wake Forest	F	HES
# - Four-time honoree
** - Three-time honoree
* - Repeat honoree from 2007