Jan. 28, 2008
RUSTON - Four Lady Techster soccer players were named to the Academic All-WAC team, which was released by the conference office on Monday. Brittany Davis, Tara Gavlak, Kat McCullough and Laura Williamson joined seven other Louisiana Tech athletes in fall sports to earn the honor.
"I think it is a great honor and well-deserved," Tech head coach Kevin Sherry said. "As a team we really stress the importance of academics and these awards are a result of some hard work by the players in the classroom. We hope to add even more next year."
To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must have completed at least one academic year, have at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA and participate in at least 50 percent of the team's contests. Additional selections to the team are likely as several freshmen will be eligible following the completion of the spring quarter.
Williamson, a senior from Shreveport, is the only Lady Techster to have been a member of the team all four years of the program. In doing so, she also became the first Tech soccer player to earn Academic All-WAC honors for four straight years. She holds the career record for most games played by a Lady Techster with 52. On the season, she played in 13 games, starting nine, and attempted one shot.
Davis earned her third straight Academic All-WAC honor, her second post-season academic award this year. She was also named to the NSCAA All-South Region Scholar Athlete Team with a 3.59 GPA in fine arts. The junior from Scottsdale, Ariz., played in 11 games for the Lady Techsters in 2007, missing the first four and the last two with injuries. She totaled 839 minutes in the Tech backline and was instrumental in helping preserve shutouts against Centenary, McNeese State and Idaho. She attempted three shots on the season with one on goal.
Coppell, Texas, native Kat McCullough picked up her second Academic All-WAC honor in three years as she previously earned the award in 2005 before redshirting the 2006 season. The sophomore played in 13 games for the Lady Techsters, starting 10. She scored the first conference goal of her career at Utah State on Nov. 3, and was fourth on the team with 16 shots (10 on goal). She logged five shots on goal in a 3-0 victory over Centenary on Sept. 23, the third-most in a single game in Tech history.
Sophomore goalkeeper Tara Gavlak picked up her first Academic All-WAC award after starting 16 of 17 games this year for Louisiana Tech. She earned three shutouts on the season against Centenary, McNeese State and Idaho, and made a total of 68 saves on the year. Her 34 saves in conference play ranked second in the WAC with 4.86 per game. She also recorded the first-ever assist by a Tech keeper on a free kick to set up a Kiva Gresham goal against McNeese State on Sept. 30.
Louisiana Tech ranks No. 1 in the state and in the WAC in graduation rate among student-athletes according to the 2007 Federal Graduation Rate Report.
