Sixty-five soccer players nominated for 2021 NCAA Women of the Year award

A total of 535 athletes have received nominations for the 2021 NCAA Women of the Year award, including 65 soccer players from across Division I, II and III.

Established in 1991, the NCAA Woman of the Year award is rooted in Title IX and recognizes graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their NCAA eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.

Highlighting the list of soccer nominees is goalkeeper Sarah Fuller, who made history last fall as the first woman to appear in a Power 5 football game, when she filled in as a kicker for Vanderbilt. Fuller was a part of Vanderbilt’s run to the SEC soccer championship this fall, and she is joining North Texas as a graduate transfer this season.

Reigning Big East Offensive Player of the Year Jenna Menta is also featured, following her spectacular career with Georgetown. Menta recently joined Wake Forest as a graduate transfer.

University of North Carolina standout Rachel Jones, hailed by Anson Dorrance as one of the Tar Heels’ most creative players, secured a nomination after an impressive junior season.

The NCAA encourages member schools to honor their top graduating female college athletes by nominating them for the Woman of the Year award. Schools can recognize two nominees if at least one is a woman of color or international student-athlete.

Next, conferences will select up to two nominees each from their pool of member school nominees. All nominees who compete in a sport not sponsored by their school’s primary conference, as well as associate conference nominees and independent nominees, will be considered by a selection committee. Then, the Woman of the Year selection committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will choose 10 women from each division to make up the Top 30.

The selection committee will determine the top three honorees in each division from the Top 30, and the nine finalists will be announced this fall. From those nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics will choose the 2021 NCAA Woman of the Year later this fall.

See below to view all 65 soccer players who received nominations. To view the full list of 535 nominees from all sports, Click Here.