Women’s Soccer to be Honored at Halftime of Men’s Basketball Game Saturday

The Wheaton College women's soccer team will be honored for its outstanding 2012 season this Saturday, February 16 at halftime of the men's basketball game versus Springfield College. The Lyons are scheduled to tip-off against the Pride at 2 p.m. on "Senior Day."

The women's soccer team finished its 2012 season with an 18-2-6 record overall and 7-1-1 mark in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC). The Lyons, who earned their 13th-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament with an at-large bid last fall, hosted the first round of the tournament and went on to win both of their games before bowing out in the sectional semifinals to Carnegie Mellon.

Wheaton made its first trip to the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2005. Overall, the Lyons have advanced to the sectional semifinals on five different occasions in program history (2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005).

Academically, the women's soccer team achieved an equal amount of success in the classroom as the squad earned a National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Team Academic Award for having a 3.20 cumulative grade point average (GPA) for the 2011-12 academic year. The Lyons joined 717 college soccer programs (220 men, 497 women) in collecting an NSCAA Team Academic Award. In order to qualify, any team listed must compile a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Sophomore Lauren Mankowski (Plainville, Conn./Plainville) also collected NEWMAC Academic All-Conference honors for the first time in her career.

On the field, several players garnered postseason awards including freshman Julia Cipriano (Middlebury, Conn./Pomperaug), sophomore Lauren Corigliano (Roselle Park, N.J./Roselle Park) and seniors Cassey Muse (Candia, N.H./Central) and Jordan Muse (Candia, N.H./Central).

Cipriano was named the NEWMAC Rookie of the Year while C. Muse picked up her fourth-career all-conference selection. C. Muse became just the sixth player in program history to have been selected to an All-Conference team all four years. Corigliano and J. Muse both were named to the NEWMAC All-Conference first team for the first time in their respective careers.

J. Muse also earned NSCAA/Continental Tire NCAA Division III All-America third team honors (first career selection) becoming the tenth player in program history to garner such accolades. C. Muse, J. Muse and Corigliano were all named to the New England Women's Intercollegiate Soccer Association (NEWISA) All-New England Team for their efforts in 2012 as well.

Over the past 13 seasons in which the women's soccer team has made the NCAA Tournament the Lyons have posted a 254-37-22 record overall during that stretch for a .812 winning percentage.