GREENSBORO, N.C. - The night before the No. 1 Messiah women's soccer team takes the pitch against the No. 25 Carnegie Mellon Tartans in the National Semifinals, the Falcons'
Esther Seeland was honored as the winner of the Elite 90 academic award. Seeland was announced as this year's recipient at tonight's Final Four banquet.
Seeland carries a perfect 4.0 cumulative grade-point average as an engineering major. She is the eighth different Messiah student-athlete in history to win the award, joining Molly Bletz (women's soccer, 2009), Emily Hursh (field hockey, 2010), Nathan Eagan (men's soccer, 2013), Kayla Deckert (women's soccer, 2015 and 2016), Katie Wingert (women's swimming, 2016 and 2017), Annalise Armstrong (field hockey, 2017), and Cooper Robbins (men's soccer, 2017).
Seeland is a starting defender for the Falcons, and has helped Messiah allow just eight goals on the season for a goals against average of 0.327 that is fifth in the country this season. Messiah has picked up 18 shutouts this season.
Messiah will play for a spot in the National Championship Game tomorrow morning when they take on the Carnegie Mellon Tartans at 11:00 a.m. at the Soccer Complex on the campus of UNC-Greensboro in Greensboro, N.C.
About the NCAA Elite 90 Award
The Elite 90, an award founded by the NCAA, recognizes the true essence of the student-athlete by honoring the individual who has reached the pinnacle of competition at the national championship level in his or her sport, while also achieving the highest academic standard among his or her peers. The Elite 90 is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA's championships.
Eligible student-athletes are sophomores or above who have participated in their sport for at least two years with their school. They must be an active member of the team, traveling and a designated member of the squad size at the championship. All ties are broken by the number of credits completed.
For more information on the Elite 90 award winners, visit on to
NCAA.com/elite-90.
