The 2017 Hope College women’s soccer team has earned the United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Award.
To be considered for the United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Award, teams must have
a composite grade point average of at least 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale) for all team members
who appear on the official NCAA, NAIA, National Christian College Athletic Association,
or junior college roster forms for the fall season.
The Flying Dutch, under the direction of head coach Leigh Sears, recorded a composite
3.46 GPA last year.
“Our players work as hard in the classroom as they do on the field,” Sears said. “They
take great pride in their academic work and set a team goal for GPA. As a soccer team,
we obviously want to win games, but we all realize that academics is the main reason
they are at Hope College.”
In 2017, Hope finished with a 19-3-1 overall record and posted the most wins in team
history. The Flying Dutch were Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association champions
and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division III Tournament.