Bears Add Ninth Straight Academic Award

MACON, Ga. – Fresh off their 2010 Atlantic Sun Championship and first-ever appearance in the NCAA Women's College Cup, the Mercer University women's soccer team, on Tuesday, received the NSCAA College Team Academic Award for the 2009-10 academic year.

This is the ninth consecutive year that the Bears have received the award as given out by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. The distinction is given to teams with a combined GPA of 3.0 or higher.

The women's team has earned the honor every year since 2001 and is the seventh consecutive time under head coach Grant Serafy.

"These young ladies achieve so much on and off the field," Serafy said. "And I could not be more proud of the effort they demonstrate in the classroom."

The Bears accomplished a team GPA of 3.23 this past year and the nine consecutive years counts as the most-ever and longest stretch of any Atlantic Sun women's soccer program in the history of the award.

This season, the Bears are one of nine teams in the A-Sun to receive the team honor and one of 124 schools nationwide to have both the men's and women's soccer programs obtain the award.

The Academic Team Award also serves as a fitting capstone in one of the most historic seasons in the program's 26-year history.  

2010 was the third time in four years that the Bears reached the 10-win plateau and was the fifth consecutive time the Bears qualified for the A-Sun conference tournament.

With the leadership of seven seniors, Mercer marched its way to its first A-Sun Tournament Championship by shutting out Stetson and Jacksonville, 5-0 and 1-0 respectively.

Mercer then appeared against the University of Florida in the teams first-ever NCAA tournament game yet eventually dropped the match in a, 3-0 tilt to end the memorable season.

For a complete list of the colleges and universities on the NSCAA Team Academic Award list Click Here