Nov. 24, 2005
Two senior members of the Notre Dame women’s soccer team – goalkeeper Erika Bohn (Brookfield, Conn.) and midfielder Annie Schefter (Yakima, Wash.) – have received elite first team Academic All-America honors while Irish men’s soccer senior midfielder John Stephens (Woodbridge, Ill.) has been named second team Academic All-America, as part of the official ESPN The Magazine All-America teams that are administered by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Bohn’s honor makes her a rare third-time Academic All-American, including two years with the prestigious first-team distinction, while she joins Schefter as the third pair of Division I women’s soccer players ever to be named first team Academic All-Americans during the same season.
Notre Dame student-athletes now have combined for official Academic All-America honors 162 times since 1952, with the Irish total of Academic All-Americans ranking second in the nation. Notre Dame joined Penn State, St. Louis and Vermont as the only schools with players on both the men’s and women’s soccer 2005 Academic All-America teams. Among those four teams, Notre Dame and Penn State also saw both of their soccer teams qualify for the current NCAA soccer tournaments.
The Notre Dame women’s soccer program’s unmatched tradition of Academic All-America excellence now includes 17 selections during the past 11 seasons – nearly double the total from any other team (North Carolina has the second-most selections since ’95, with nine). Six Notre Dame women’s soccer players now have combined for nine first team Academic All-America honors, with the Irish program producing at least one first-teamer in six of the past 10 years. At least one Notre Dame player has been named Academic All-America in nine of the past 11 seasons (all but ’99 and ’02) and the program easily could have laid claim to honorees in the other two years (Jenny Streiffer somehow was passed over in her 1999 All-America season, despite previously being an Academic All-American in ’97 and ’98, while an injury to Vanessa Pruzinsky prevented her from earning her third straight Academic All-America honor in ’02, which instead came in ’03).
Stephens becomes the fourth Notre Dame men’s soccer player to earn Academic All-America honors and the first since Phil Murphy was a first-team honoree in 1999.
Bohn owns a 3.67 cumulative grade-point average as an art studio major while Schefter carries a 3.76 GPA as a double major in pre-professional studies and psychology. Stephens also is nearing his college graduation with an impressive GPA, as a 3.86 student majoring in economics.
Notre Dame sophomore midfielder/defender Ashley Jones also was on the 2005 Academic All-America ballot, after joining Bohn and Schefter in receiving first team Academic All-District V honors. Jones, an accounting major who posted a 3.96 GPA during her freshman year, will return in 2006 as one of several Notre Dame players who will look to continue the program’s stellar Academic All-America tradition. Two prospective senior members of the 2006 team – midfielder Jen Buczkowski (3.28, business) and defender Christie Shaner (3.37, design) – also should be top Academic All-America candidates in 2006. Buczkowski was a first team Academic All-District selection in 2004 and a second teamer in ’05 while Shaner was named Academic All-District in ’05 and narrowly missed repeating that honor this season.
Bohn and Schefter are the third set of Division I women’s soccer teammates known to have received first team Academic All-America honors during the same season. Most recently, Virginia Commonwealth senior midfielder Leah Robinson and senior defender Prue Cormie received first team honors in 2003. CoSIDA did not begin naming an exclusive women’s soccer Academic All-America team until 2001. Prior to ’01, women’s soccer was part of the fall and winter “at-large” program, a highly selective process that made it more difficult for teammates to both receive first-team honors. Notre Dame’s 1996 team nonetheless featured two first team Academic All-Americans, with goalkeeper Jen Renola and forward Amy VanLaecke both receiving that special honor.
Annie Schefter (3.76 GPA as double major in pre-professional studies and psychology) joins Erika Bohn as the third set of Division I women’s soccer teammates ever named first team Academic All-America in the same season.
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Bohn is the only 2005 women’s soccer Academic All-American to repeat as a first-teamer and also was a second-team honoree as a sophomore in 2003, making her just the third Notre Dame student-athlete ever to be a three-year Academic All-American (freshmen are not eligible). She also is one of just six Division I women’s soccer players ever to be a three-time Academic All-American, joining former Notre Dame teammate and defensive standout Pruzinsky in that distinction.
Pruzinsky – a rare three-time first-teamer (’00, ’01, ’03) and the women’s soccer 2003 Academic All-American of the Year – and Bohn are the only Notre Dame women’s soccer players ever to be a first team Academic All-American in multiple seasons. Former basketball great Bob Arnzen (’67, ’68, ’69) is the only other Notre Dame student-athlete to be named Academic All-America three times (like Pruzinsky, he was a rare first-teamer for all three seasons).
Kansas forward Caroline Smith also picked up her third Academic All-America honor after receiving second-team honors for the 2005 season. The only other three-time Academic All-Americans in Division I women’s soccer history include Florida’s Erin Baxter (2nd team in ’97, 1st team in ’98 and ’99), Montana’s Courtney Mathieson (2nd team in ’96 and ’98, 1st team in ’97), Pruzinsky and Penn State’s Joanna Lohman (1st team from ’01-’03). Pruzinsky and Lohman remain the only Division I players ever to be named first team Academic All-America three times.
Schefter also was a second team Academic All-American in 2004, joining Pruzinsky, Bohn and three other players in Notre Dame women’s soccer players who have repeated as Academic All-Americans. Renola and forward VanLaecke received second team Academic All-America honors in 1995 (while helping the Irish win the national title) and both players then were first-team honorees in ’96. Streiffer was a first-team pick in ’97 and added second-team honors during her junior season in ’98.
Should she elect to return for her fifth year of eligibility in 2006, Schefter would be among the top candidates for Academic All-American of the Year and the prospective medical student could join the various short lists as a three-time Academic All-American and repeat first-teamer.
In addition to three-timers Pruzinsky and Bohn and two-time honorees Renola, VanLaecke, Streiffer and Schefter, the Notre Dame women’s soccer programs other Academic All-American have included forward Meotis Erikson in 2000 (3rd team); defender Monica Gonzalez in ’01 (2nd team) and forward Mary Boland in ’03 (2nd team). Renola also was recognized as the 1996 CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year for fall and winter “at-large” sports.
John Stephens (3.86 GPA, economics) is the fourth Notre Dame men’s soccer player to earn Academic All-America honors.
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Stephens and Murphy are two of four Notre Dame men’s soccer players ever named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America team, joining Chris Dean (’95, 2nd team) and Ryan Turner (’97, 3rd team) in that distinction.
Bohn missed a month during the middle of the 2005 season but owns a 0.41 season goals-against average that matches her NCAA-leading mark from the 2004 national championship season (she would rank 11th on the current GAA charts but is 20 minutes shy of the GAA minimum). Schefter is the seventh-leading scorer on the 2005 team, with four goals and nine assists as part of a talented four-player rotation in the midfield. A former member of the U.S. Under-19 National Team, she missed all of her freshman season in 2002 due to a preseason knee injury but has made a strong return to appear in all 75 games during the past two seasons.
Bohn and Schefter are key members of a 2005 Notre Dame squad that carries a 22-2-0 record into Friday’s NCAA quarterfinal game at Portland (7:00 p.m. PST). Schefter’s strong all-around play has helped the Irish dominate possession while rolling up a 109-12 season scoring edge (the ND goal total nearly equals the 111 total opponent shots). The Irish have faced just two deficits all season (none in the current 13-game winning streak), totaling 77 minutes.
Stephens has helped the Notre Dame men battle a challenging 2005 schedule that included a second-round NCAA Tournament game earlier this week, with the Irish winning that game 2-0 to advance to the round-of-16.
The Notre Dame women were one of seven teams to produce multiple players on the 2005 Academic All-America teams (35 total players), with others including North Carolina, North Dakota State, Penn State, Portland, Rhode Island and Vermont. Notre Dame also was one of 12 teams that qualified for the 2005 NCAAs and feature ’05 Academic All-Americans, as are: Bowling Green, St. Louis, Penn State, Wisconsin, Yale, Portland, Hofstra, UNC, UTEP, SMU and Duke.
Friday’s NCAA quarterfinal will feature five Academic All-Americans on the field, as three Portland players – senior forward Christine Sinclair (1st team), junior defender Kari Evans (2nd team) and senior defender Kelsy Hollenbeck (2nd team) – also received the top academic honor.
Five total Notre Dame players were named to the 2005 CoSIDA Academic All-District V teams: first-teamers Bohn, Schefter and Jones and second-teamers Buczkowski and Candace Chapman (a 5th-year defender with a 3.23 cumulative GPA as a sociology and computer applications major).
The Notre Dame women followed up their 2004 national championship by posting an impressive 3.38 team GPA during the ’04 fall semester and then a 3.35 in the spring of ’05 (ranking as the second-best ’05 spring GPA among ND’s 26 varsity sports).
Here are links to the respective CoSIDA women’s and men’s soccer 2005 Academic All-America releases:
http://www.cosida.com/index.asp?id=966
http://www.cosida.com/index.asp?id=964
Here are additional updated bio. notes on the three 2005 Academic All-Americans:
Erika Bohn helped Notre Dame win the 2004 NCAA championship before posting a 3.80 semester GPA in the fall of ’04.
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Erika Bohn (3.68 GPA, art studio major; senior goalkeeper; Brookfield, Conn.) – named 3rd team all-BIG EAST for 2005 season … owns 0.41 season goals-against avg. that would be leading the BIG EAST and ranked 11th in the nation (she is just shy of having logged the minimum minutes, after missing month due to ankle injury) … the strong ND defense has caused her to face just 10 shots on goal since returning from injury (in 707 minutes of action) … her 0.66 career GAA trails only Liz Wagner (0.57, ’98-’01) and LaKeysia Beene (0.63, ’96-’99) in the ND record book … also ranks 2nd in ND history for career wins (66-12-2) and 3rd in minutes played (6,698) while her 79 starts are 2nd only to Jen Renola’s 98 … made penalty-kick save late in regulation and then two more in shootout of 2004 NCAA title-game win over UCLA (earning College Cup defensive MVP honors) … member of U.S. Under-21 National Team that won the 2005 Nordic Cup … led nation in 2004 GAA (0.41) before posting 3.80 GPA in ’04 fall term … logged a 967-minute shutout streak in ’03 that ranks 5th in NCAA history … third-year member of ND Athletic Department’s Academic Honors faculty mentoring program … team leader of various Life Skills volunteer service events … owns 65-6-2 record in her past 73 overall decisions with the Irish (since 3-2 loss to BYU on 10/19/02), allowing just 34 goals in that 73-game stretch (47 with 0 GA, 19 with 1 GA) … prior to the first ’03 loss to Michigan, she logged 29 consecutive games with the Irish (24 fall, 5 spring) without allowing multiple goals (previously by BYU in ’02) … since the BYU loss in ’02, she has limited the opponent to 0-1 goals in 63 of her past 69 fall games (49 with 0 GA, 14 with 1 GA) … ranked 5th in nation with 0.49 GAA in ’03 … earned NSCAA 2nd team all-Great Lakes Region honors in ’03 … first called into U.S. Under-21 training camps during the summer of ’04.
Prospective medical-school student Annie Schefter is a key member of the talented Notre Dame midfield unit.
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Annie Schefter (3.77 GPA, pre-professional studies and psychology double major; senior midfielder; Yakima, Wash.) – has appeared in all 24 games during ’05 season, starting 16 while ranking as team’s 7th-highest scorer with 13 points (3G-7A) … ranked 5th among BIG EAST players in assists … all four of her ’05 goals (plus 5A) have come in the past 10 games … her ’05 postseason points include 1G-1A in the NCAA 2nd-round vs. #25 Michigan State (3-0) plus assists in the BIG EAST semifinal vs. #11 Marquette (3-0) and in the NCAA 1st round vs. Valparaiso (6-0) …totaled 1G-1A in both games of back-to-back wins over #10 Connecticut (4-0) and Providence (6-0) … also has ’05 assists in wins over #11 Florida (4-1) and Gonzaga (4-1) … prospective medical school student who has played all 75 games in ’03-’05 (12G-21A/45 points, 57 GS), with the Irish going 67-6-2 in that three-year stretch (she did not play in ’02 due to injury) … helped win 2004 NCAA title before posting 3.72 GPA in ’04 fall semester (3.88 in ’05 spring) … former member of U.S. Under-19 National Team …serves as co-captain of ’05 team … two-year member of ND Athletic Department’s Academic Honors faculty mentoring program … ranked as 5th-leading scorer on ’04 NCAA championship team (4G-7A).
John Stephens (3.86 GPA, economics major; senior midfielder; Woodbridge, Ill.) – tri-captain for the 2005 Irish squad who has played in 20 of 21 games, with 17 starts in the midfield … has totaled 1G-3A while helping Irish outshoot their opponents 330-266 for the season … has played in 60 games during his Notre Dame career.