Trinity's Abby Loar Named SCAC Woman of the Year

San Antonio - Tiger All-American women's soccer player Abby Loar has been selected as the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Co-Woman of the Year.

The award means that Loar, along with Sharwil Bell of Rhodes College, will be the conference nominees for the 22nd annual NCAA Woman of the Year award.  

The NCAA Woman of the Year Award honors graduating student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, community service and leadership.

Loar is a two-time All-American who broke Trinity records for career goals and career points scored last season, leading the Tiger women to the 3rd Round of the NCAA Playoffs.  She was named the SCAC Offensive Player of the Year for the second straight season, and was also the D3soccer.com National Forward of the Year in 2011.

Also a two-time National Soccer Coaches Association of America Scholar All-American, Loar became the second Trinity women's soccer player in the last two seasons to earn the prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship.  She is Trinity's only women's soccer player to score 15 or more goals in three seasons (2009, 2010, 2011), capping her career with 21 goals in 2011.

This is the third time that a Trinity student-athlete has been named the SCAC Woman of the Year.  Hayley Emerick (diving) won just last year, while Christyn Schumann (track & field) earned the honor in 2006.  Emerick was the first SCAC Woman of the Year honoree chosen as one of the nine finalists for the NCAA Woman of the Year award.

All conference nominees will be forwarded to the NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee. The selection committee will choose the top 10 nominees in each division. From among those 30 honorees, the selection committee will determine the top three in each division. Finally, the members of the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics will vote from among the top nine finalists to determine the 2012 NCAA Woman of the Year.

The top 10 honorees and the nine finalists from Divisions I, II and III will be honored and the 2012 NCAA Woman of the Year winner will be announced at a dinner in Indianapolis, on October 14, 2012.

In conjunction with the changes in the nomination process for the NCAA Woman of the Year award, the SCAC Woman of the Year award was established for the 2005-06 athletic season. Beginning in 2006, the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics (CWA) started receiving conference-designated nominees in lieu of the previous institution- and state-based nomination format.

From 1991 to 2005, each state had a woman of the year honoree and from that group 10 finalists were selected. From the top-10 finalists, the national winner was then chosen. Since 2006, each conference and independent school forwards nominations to the NCAA. 

“Abby has been a tremendous ambassador for our institution, our program, our team, sport, her peer students and athletes,” said Trinity Head Coach Lance Key. “I have been greatly blessed to have had the opportunity to learn from Abby throughout her time at Trinity. She is a first-rate citizen and member of our family, an incredibly driven and motivated student, and an exceptional athlete. She epitomizes the individual we all wish to surround ourselves with, whether we're trying to win games, wars, or prizes. Abby is simply a winner on many levels, and I very much look forward to watching her cut her path towards a very bright future.”

(Portions of this story were taken from the SCAC Web site.)