McGuire nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year
Yesterday Grace McGuire, a former Utah State soccer player, was announced as one of 585 nominees for the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year award. McGuire recorded 80 saves for the Aggies a season ago, the ninth-most in a single season in Utah State history. She started 16 of the 18 games Utah State played last season and allowed 1.45 goals per contest. But for her career, her 1.13 goals against average ranks sixth all-time in the program’s history.
On the NCAA’s official website, it lists the award as one that, “honors graduating female student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service and leadership.”
The Committee on Women’s Athletics votes for which of the nominees will make the Top-30, and encourages schools to nominate two student-athletes if, “at least one of the nominees is a student-athlete of color or international student-athlete.” The finalists will be invited to Indianapolis on Oct. 20 where the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year winner will be announced. The complete field of nominees competed in 23 different sports across all three NCAA divisions, including 262 from Division I, 131 from Division II and 192 from Division III.
Photo via USU Athletics: McGuire (99) poses with other Aggie seniors on senior day, Sunday Oct. 21 against Fresno State.
The selection committee will determine the top-three honorees from each division from the Top 30 and then announce the nine finalists in September. From those nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics then will choose the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year.
McGuire recently graduated from Utah State with both an undergraduate and master’s degree in business management. McGuire served as the Mountain West’s NCAA representative for the conference’s Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and the president of Utah State’s SAAC. McGuire also worked as an intern in Washington D.C., as a member of Representative Mia Love’s staff during the summer of 2017.