Leininger Nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year Award

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Recent Gustavus Adolphus College graduate Sophie Leininger (Plymouth, Minn.) has been selected as a candidate for the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year award. Leininger was a four-year starter for the Gustavus women’s soccer team and the NCAA Woman of the Year nomination adds to a long list of accolades for the Wayzata product.

For 28 years, the NCAA Women of the Year program has honored the academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service and leadership of outstanding female college athletes. Rooted in Title IX and directed by the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics, the NCAA Woman of the Year program celebrates the accomplishments of female college athletes across all three NCAA divisions. In 2018, more than 200,000 women are playing college sports, and the NCAA received a program record of 581 nominations for this prestigious award.

Leininger was named United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-Region and garnered her second MIAC Elite 22 Award as the student-athlete with the highest GPA at the conference championship. Leininger, who was named CoSIDA Academic All-District this past year, graduated with a 3.99 GPA, majoring in political science and psychological science. The midfielder started all 20 games this past season as she scored two goals and helped on six others to lead the team in assists. Leininger finished her career with 76 games played, six goals, and 18 assists, which ranks sixth in program history. She received MIAC All-Conference honors after the 2015 Gusties won the league playoff championship and appeared in the NCAA Championships. She was named All-MIAC honorable mention this past season.

Next, conference offices will select up to two conference nominees to move forward if at least one of the nominees is a woman of color or international student-athlete. Each conference nominee will be notified by the NCAA, and all conference-round nominees will be announced on ncaa.org in early August. Conference nominations are forwarded to the NCAA Woman of the Year Selection Committee, which identifies the top 10 honorees in each of the three NCAA divisions. From those 30 candidates, the selection committee then determines the three finalists in each division for a total of nine finalists.

The Committee on Women’s Athletics will select the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year from the nine finalists. The 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced Sunday, Oct. 28, at an awards dinner in Indianapolis.