Nov. 18, 2008

TOWSON, Md. - Senior midfielder Yael Averbuch of the University of North Carolina headlines the 2008 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Women's Soccer Teams, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

Averbuch is the winner of the Academic All-America of the Year award in the University Division. Averbuch was joined by two teammates and Atlantic Coast Conference representatives in Tar Heel junior defender Kristi Eveland - also a first-team selection - and UNC senior goalkeeper Anna Rodenbough, who was named to the second team.

Averbuch is the second Tar Heel player in three years to win the Academic All-America of the Year award in the University Division. Forward Heather O'Reilly won the prestigious award in 2006.

A two-time first team All-America pick, Averbuch has been a four-year starter for the Tar Heels. A native of Upper Montclair, N.J., Averbuch was named first team All-Atlantic Coast Conference for the third year in a row in 2008. As a senior, she has scored five goals with nine assists while leading the Tar Heels to a 21-1-2 record and their fourth straight ACC championship. A member of the U.S. Under-23 National Team that won the Nordic Cup last summer, Averbuch has 31 goals and 29 assists in her career. In the last four years, Averbuch has helped the Tar Heels to a record of 90-7-4, including a national championship as a sophomore. Averbuch has started every game in her four years as a Tar Heel. That streak is now 101 successive starts as of the NCAA game against Charlotte last Sunday. She has now tied the UNC school record for total starts in a career and will break that mark Saturday against Illinois in the NCAA Tournament third round. She currently shares the record with fellow UNC first-team All-Americas Cindy Parlow (1995-98), Tiffany Roberts (1995-98) and Danielle Borgman (1998-2001).

A psychology major, Averbuch is one of 11 scholar-athletes to be named first-team University Division Academic All-America. In 2007, she was named to the Academic All-America second team and in 2006 she was named to the Academic All-America third team.

Joining Averbuch on the first team is Eveland, a native of Southlake, Texas. A three-year starter on defense, Eveland is a business administration major. She has played in all 76 games in her Tar Heel career and has started all but three of them. She helps lead a Tar Heel defense which is regularly among the national and conference leaders in goals against average.

For the third successive year, Rodenbough, of Greensboro, N.C., has been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic Academic All-America second team. Rodenbough has played in 78 games in her career, starting 62 times. She has a career goals against average of 0.437 and a career goalkeeping record of 50-5-2. She has allowed only 24 goals in 4,935 minutes of play in her career. Rodenbough majors in applied science and biomedical engineering.

To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports.