Indianapolis, IN - This week Messiah College dual-sport student-athlete Becky Ely was listed among a record 480 student nominees for the 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year award. The award, now in its 25th year, annually recognizes female student-athletes that exemplify in grand fashion the four pillars of academics, athletics, service, and leadership. Of the 480 nominees, 180 were from Division III.
 
Ely played field hockey and lacrosse at Messiah and finished her final athletic season for the Falcons this spring. In her career she led Messiah field hockey to a record of 61-21 with four Commonwealth Conference Championships. The stalwart defender added nine goals and ten assists for a total of 28 points over her four year career.

In her first season on the field hockey turf Ely she was named Commonwealth Rookie of the Year, and she was named First Team All-Commonwealth in every season afterward. She started to receive national recognition in her junior year when she was named NFCHA/Longstreth Second Team All-Region. She followed that by being named First Team All-Region this past season. As a senior, Ely was also named the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Scholar-Athlete of the Year for field hockey, and she was recently named Messiah's Female Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

In her secondary sport of lacrosse, she also contributed heavily on the defensive side; Ely scooped up 86 groundballs and caused 38 turnovers in her career. Her play helped the program to a 51-23 record over four seasons and a Commonwealth Conference championship this year.
 
Ely graduated this spring with a degree in Mathematics with a Teaching Certificate and a minor in Statistics. She finished her college career with a 3.80 GPA and was named to the MAC Honor Roll in every year of eligibility. She also was named Academic All-MAC in each of the award's first two seasons of existence.
 
With regard to service, Ely participated in many projects with her two teams. Most notably she went on a service trip to the Dominican Republic with the lacrosse team in the summer of 2013. In addition to that Ely volunteered with the Special Olympics, Project Share, and team service days throughout the local Harrisburg area.
 
Ely also contributed to the local community as a volunteer math tutor at SciTech High School in the Harrisburg School District.

As a nominee for the Woman of the Year award, Ely will be included in the pool of nominations that will be voted upon by conference and NCAA officials. Each conference can select up to two women to advance to an evaluation by the NCAA selection committee, with that committee then appointing 10 finalists from each Division I, II, and III for a final vote.

Each of the final 30 finalists will be honored at the NCAA annual ceremony on Sunday, Oct. 18, where the 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced. Fans are encouraged to follow GoMessiah.com for updates on Ely's status throughout this process.
  

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