The women’s soccer team set the standard for all University of Memphis student-athletes last year as 92 percent of the team was named to the Conference USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll.
In all, 106 Tiger athletes were named to the list, which requires a student-athlete to maintain a GPA of 3.0 or higher for the year.
“Obviously we want to win games, and we want to recruit people who can help us do that,” women’s soccer head coach Brooks Monaghan said, “but at the end of the day, these kids are coming to us to get a good education as well.”
Three players, Laura Barse, Anja Nielsen and Kari Rawe, received the Commissioner’s Academic Medal for having a GPA of 3.75 or higher.
“We emphasize academics very strongly, and so even if the kid is not a great student when they come in, the other players’ study habits and work ethic spreads among the group,” Monaghan said.
One of the messages Monaghan said he tries to get across to his players is the importance of education and the need for a college degree.
“We try to emphasize that, ‘Look, there is life after soccer,’” he said. “‘We want you to have the best career that you can in soccer, but there is life after soccer, so focus on your school work as well.’”
Senior midfielder Michelle Meduri, one of the 23 women’s soccer players to make the list, said for the most part she and her teammates are naturally good students, who encourage each other to do well in the classroom.
“For us, there is not as much of a future, at least financially, in playing soccer after college,” Meduri said, “so we see our future as athletes differently than a star basketball player or football player might.”
Each sports program at The University had at least one player named to the Commissioner’s Honor Roll.
The women’s tennis team had the second-highest percentage of players on the list with 83 percent. Volleyball had 62 percent, men’s soccer had 57 percent, women’s golf also had 57 percent while men’s tennis had 56 percent.
Women’s basketball had 47 percent of its players named to the list while men’s golf and men’s track each had 38 percent. Baseball had 28 percent, women’s track had 23 percent, football had 14 percent and men’s basketball had eight percent.
