Julia Panko of Women’s Soccer Earns Academic All-American Distinction
Jonathan McCue
HOBOKEN, N.J. (December 5, 2017) – Sophomore Julia Panko of the Stevens Institute of Technology women's soccer team was a named a second-team Division III Academic All-American by the College Sports Information Directors of America on Tuesday. She is just the second Duck in program history to ever earn the organization's highest academic honor.
Click here to see the release from CoSIDA
"This is one of the highest honors for a student-athlete and we are very proud that Julia is being recognized by CoSIDA," said head coach
Jeff Parker. "We take great pride in our women's soccer program representing our university and showing people who we are every day. Julia's drive to push herself to get better and her passion for the game are things that inspire all of us and help make our program special. We all celebrate this great achievement with her."
Panko boasts a 4.0 cumulative grade point average while majoring in chemical engineering. The sophomore was a First-Team Academic All-District selection by CoSIDA.
On the field, she was equally impressive. Last week, the midfielder was named to the All-America Team by the United Soccer Coaches after being named the Empire 8 Player of the Year. The Millstone Township, New Jersey native led the league in the Triple Crown categories of goals (10), assists (8) and points (28). She was First-Team All-Conference and netted two game-winning goals this season.
Panko joins Sara Roeder (2007) as the only other member of the women's soccer program to earn a CoSIDA Academic All-American award. Heather Dean also won national recognition as a NSCAA/Adidas Scholar All-American in 2005. Panko is certainly the first Duck to earn academic and on-field All-America honors in the same season.
The 33 women on this year's Division III Academic All-America® team have an average GPA of 3.94 with 13 at 4.0 or above. The first team average GPA is 3.99. Panko is one of just four sophomores to earn the Academic All-America award this year. Freshmen are not eligible.
Panko led the team to its third-straight Empire 8 Championship and the Ducks were ranked as high as No. 14 in the nation this year.