News for the Week of Nov. 26, 2012

Program Notes for the Week of 11/26/2012:

Over the next few weeks we will recap the past season with awards, stats and other fun facts.  There was an academic award announced last week after the awards assembly had taken place that we want everyone to be aware of:


We are very excited to announce that the girls were awarded Team Academic All-America status for the 2011-2012 school year this past week by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA). This is the highest academic honor that high school soccer teams may receive in the country.

Avon Lake was one of only 223 teams nationwide (about 4 per state) to receive this prestigious award and the team GPA was an outstanding 4.15!  Furthermore, Avon Lake had the tenth highest team GPA in the country and of the 24 schools in Ohio which received the award, the Shoregals had the highest GPA in the state! Also, Avon Lake was the only Lorain County school to be awarded Team Academic All-America status and the girls had the highest GPA in the Southwestern Conference.

To qualify for the award, a team must have a minimum grade point average of 3.25 for the entire academic year. The way that this award is figured is based on the fact that a number of states play Spring soccer only and in order to include all states the NSCAA waits until after the Spring season is completed to determine the award winners. That is why the award for last year is just being announced in late November of this year. This was actually last year's team that won the award and would include last year's 12 graduated seniors.  This year's team is also on track to receive Academic All-America status again for the current academic year next November. The Shoregals also received this award in 2011, 2010, & 2008.

In addition, Trisha Wladecki who was a former Shoregal and an individual Academic All-American in 2008 as well as part of the Avon Lake team award has continued her strong academic performance with the Valparaiso women's soccer team.  The Valpo women's team has been awarded Team Academic All-America status for the 2011-2012 academic year of which Trisha was a member.

Congratulations to all our Shoregal scholars!!  It is a pleasure to be able to report not only successes on the field, but also in the classroom as well.  The girls soccer program has a legacy of achievement that continues with each new generation of players and is truly something to be admired.


Season Stats:
Let's look at games played stats this week:

Injuries and illness are always a part of any season and any player who plays in every game is to be commended.  This year we had 3 girls start all 16 games as follows:

Christine Gates
Kailey McClain
Sarah Nasr

In addition, the following girls played in all 16 games:

Emily Peepers - started 12 games
Emily Peterson - started 14 games
Ali Robinson - started 14 games
Esther Killius - started 9 games

Annie Coyne played in 15 games, starting 7; Karen Krause played in 15 games, starting 13; Clare Adams saw action in 15 games with 6 starts; and Catie Corrigan was on the field for 15 games with 14 starts.  Amy Crooks played in 14 games with 10 starts in goal.


All Time Records:
For a little fun and to satisfy some curiosity, over the next several weeks we will present our all time record against various opponents.

Padua  2 wins - 1 loss - 0 ties - We first played Padua in 1997; this year the game was started and then was cancelled by a thunderstorm.

Lake Catholic  4-7-0 - A history of close, exciting games.  We have played every year since 2002.

Hathaway Brown  2-2-0 - This series started in 2009 against one of the better teams in Div. II.


Soccer Site of the Week:
We are featuring various club websites that you can visit to make arrangements for off season training. Tryouts have already begun and almost every club is looking for HS girls to play. This week we will highlight the OP Fire Soccer Club which may be found at:

http://op-fire.com/

This is a new club in the area that features Strongsville girls head coach Jon Felton on staff.   Some of our Shoregal families have already found this club.  Check them out!


Shoregal Website:
Don't forget to visit our Shoregal website at:

www.alshoregalsoccer.org

There you will find more in depth stats and stories than we can fit on our blog.