Women's Soccer | 6/18/2019 12:30:00 PM
Moon Township, Pa. – Samantha Lackner, a recently graduated defender on the Robert Morris University women's soccer team, was selected as the 2018-19 Northeast Conference (NEC) Scholar-Athlete of the Year, as announced by the organization on Tuesday afternoon.
Sponsored by the league's Faculty Athletic Representatives, the NEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award is bestowed annually upon the male and female student-athlete who has exhausted their eligibility, graduated, and posted the highest cumulative GPA in the conference at the conclusion of the academic year.
Lackner is one of seven graduated senior student-athletes honored with the award, joining fellow Robert Morris alumnae Lacee Collins (softball), along with Bryant's Shane Vyskocil (swimming & diving), LIU Brooklyn's Frank Cerillo (baseball), St. Francis Brooklyn's Nicholas Nemergut (men's golf) and Dana DiRenzo (women's basketball), and Saint Francis U's Elis Dumouchelle (volleyball).
RELATED: Collins Earns Academic Accolade from NEC
A Pittsburgh, Pa., native that majored in Psychology, Lackner carried a perfect 4.00 cumulative grade point average and was named to the 2018 CoSIDA Google Cloud Academic All-District 2 Team. She made three NEC Academic and Commissioner's Honor Rolls for her academic excellence. In her three-year career, the West Virginia Wesleyan transfer played in 51 contests, starting 44 of them and the last 42. She didn't come off the pitch for a single minute as a junior – seeing 1,552 minutes in total – and assisted the Colonial back four in posting 11 shutouts.
This past season, Lackner appeared in all 18 Starting XIs at centerback and guided the RMU defense to three clean sheets. She established a career high in minutes played with 1,560, and registered an assist at Valparaiso on Sept. 2. For her defensive efforts in a 2-0 victory over Saint Francis U, Lackner was named an NEC Prime Performer.
Lackner and Collins are the fifth and sixth Colonials to collect the honor since it was established after the 2006-07 academic year. The duo joins Lisa Jaszka (2006-07, volleyball), Tara Maxwell (2008-09, women's track & field), Una Japundza (2012-13, volleyball), and Travis Denny (2013-14, men's tennis) as RMU honorees.
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