Kansas City, Mo. – For a 20th consecutive season, the Western Carolina women's soccer team earned another team accolade stemming from the successful 2024-25 season, as the squad collected the United Soccer Coaches College Team Academic Award this week.
Boasting a 3.66 team grade point average, the Catamounts were the class of the Southern Conference's women's soccer teams for the second year in a row, with Mercer the only other team in the conference to earn the academic honor with a 3.62 GPA.
The 2024-25 Catamount soccer team placed six on the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District team, with Kirsten Hahn, Leanne Trudel, Samantha Whitaker, Sofia Goclowski, Ava Robitaille, and Naya Marcil each earning honors. Additionally, Marcil and Isabella DeMarco were named to the United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-South Region first-team following their strong performances both on the pitch and in the classroom last season.
A combined 697 soccer teams – 283 men's squads and 414 women's teams) posted a team grade point average of 3.0 or higher, thereby earning the United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Award for the 2024-25 academic year. That surpassed the total of 422 teams to earn honors last season, with 168 more women's teams hitting the benchmark this year.
The 2025 Catamounts are in a prime position, looking to pull off the three-peat as the Southern Conference's regular season champions, as the strikers retain most of their production from the 2024 championship squad. WCU returns 50 percent of its goals production (26 of 52), 56 percent of its assists (27 of 48), 60 percent of its shot attempts (237 of 395), and 62 percent of its shots on goal (123 of 199).
All told, the Catamounts return nearly 70 percent of their game experience from last season (14,355 of 20,789 total minutes), including a pair of Catamounts who logged over 1,800 minutes as defensive anchors, with Leanne Trudel between the pipes and defender Mary Mueth.
With practice already underway, the Catamount women's soccer team is set to open competition with five consecutive home matches, two in exhibition play. WCU hosts Charleston Southern on Tuesday, Aug. 5, at 4 p.m. and Queens University of Charlotte on Friday, Aug. 8, at 6 p.m. in exhibition action at the Catamount Athletics Complex in Cullowhee.
Western Carolina's regular season opens at home against archrival Appalachian State on Thursday, Aug. 14, at 6 p.m.
Keep track of everything related to Catamount women's soccer and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/catamountsports), Instagram (@wcu_catamounts), and Twitter (@catamounts, @Catamountsoccer).
