Sarah Jones
players on the all-conference team and advanced all the way to the quarterfinals of the inaugural Mountain East Conference
Tournament. Concord’s 16-17 record was the continuation of the respectability that head coach Kate Southcott has helped to bring back to the a program that won a total of just 14 matches in the three years prior to her arrival in Athens in 2009. In addition to being the most wins by the program since 2002, CU’s 16win season was its fifth-best season over the last 24 seasons. For their efforts, the duo of junior middle hitter Sarah Jones and junior outside hitter Brytni Willis earned all-conference honors. Jones compiled 314 kills (2.78 per set), a
.218 attack percentage, 97 blocks (18 solo / 79 assisted), 266 digs (2.35 per set) and 16 aces in 2013. Willis registered 299 kills (2.65 per set), 41 blocks (3 solo / 38 assisted), 312 digs (2.76 per set) and 31 aces.
Six minutes later, after Simon’s initial shot was blocked by the Shepherd goalie, she retrieved her own rebound and scored her second goal of the game. Shepherd attempted a comeback by scoring in the 59th minute, but Simon finished off what she started with her third goal in the 74th minute to record the hat trick and give the Mountain Lions a 3-1 lead that they would not relinquish en route to a win over the Rams. Her three-goal performance was the first for a CU women’s soccer player since Kelsey Ballard achieved the feat against Salem International on Oct. 3, 2010. Simon went on to earn first team All-MEC and National Soccer Coaches Association of America All-Atlantic Region honors. For the season, Simon scored nine goals while adding one assist for 19 points on the season.
related financial aid. The inclusion of student-athletes who do not receive athletically related financial aid distinguishes the ASR from Division I’s Graduation Success Rate. Concord’s 70 percent ASR is the highest by the institution since the 1999-00 cohort and up nine percent from last year. The Mountain Lions ASR speaks to the improving and ongoing effectiveness of the Concord Athletic Department’s retention and graduation efforts. In terms of individual sports at Concord, women’s soccer and women’s tennis received 100 percent ASR’s with women’s basketball (93 percent), men’s tennis (86 percent), softball (85 percent), baseball (75 percent) and women’s track (75 percent) all above the national average as well. Concord was ranked seventh
out of the 14 NCAA Division II institutions in the state of West Virginia. Now in its eighth year of data collection, Division II’s ASR is similar to Division I’s Graduation Success Rate (GSR), in that it includes transfers into an institution in the calculation, but removes students who left the institution while academically eligible. Because of Division II’s partial scholarship financial aid model, it also includes all non-scholarship freshman student-athletes on the roster, capturing more than 35,000 nonscholarship student-athletes. The data demonstrates studentathletes continue to graduate at a high rate. In contrast, fewer than half of freshmen enrolled at a public university in West Virginia in fall 2006 earned their degrees six years later.
#10 Simon’s Hat Trick The Concord University women’s soccer team entered its Oct. 9 matchup with Mountain Kari Simon East Conference rival Shepherd needing a win to keep its playoff hopes alive at the time. Sophomore forward Kari Simon made sure that the Mountain Lions came away victorious. Just 12:27 into the contest, the Mineral Wells, W.Va. native scored her first goal of the game on an assist from junior midfielder Sami Spertzel.
ACADEMICS Academic Success Rate up 9 Percent for CU’s Student-Athletes Veering from the national trend, the Academic Success Rate (ASR) for Concord University studentathletes increased nine points to 70 percent, while the average ASR for NCAA Division II athletes nationally dropped a point to 71 percent, according to the annual report released in December by the NCAA. The ASR calculates the percentage of student-athletes that earn a degree within six years of their initial matriculation in college. The national four-year ASR average decreased one point overall to 71 percent. The ASR is a measure that reflects the unique qualities of Division II. It measures graduation rates for virtually all Division II student-athletes, including transfers and those not receiving athletically
Athletics section compiled with assistance from CU Sports Information Director Tyler McIntosh and graduate assistant Wes McKinney ’13 81 • Spring 2014