North Carolina junior forward Loren Shealy has been named the 2013 Atlantic Coast Conference Field Hockey Scholar-Athlete of the Year and leads the sport’s All-ACC Academic Team, as announced by Commissioner John Swofford.
Shealy is one of nine Carolina student-athletes named to the 2013 All-ACC Academic team. Tar Heels honored are Sassi Ammer, Emma Bozek, Charlotte Craddock, Casey Di Nardo, Meghan Drake, Marta Malmberg, Loren Shealy, Samantha Travers and Emily Wold.
Candidates for All-ACC Academic honors must carry a 3.0 cumulative GPA and have achieved a 3.0 GPA during the fall semester. In addition to the academic criteria, they must be key contributors on the field. Each Tar Heel honored started at least a third of the team’s games in 2013, when UNC finished 18-6 and reached the final four for the fifth year in a row and 18th time in program history.
The total of nine Tar Heels honored is the highest ever for UNC. Carolina led all schools on the 33-member team.
“I’ve always found that the better we are in the classroom, the better we are on the field,” UNC coach Karen Shelton said. “We want to be successful in all areas and I’m so proud of our student-athletes for their hard work. It’s not easy to balance all the demands that they have on their time and energy, much less do to it at a very high level. I applaud them for not just getting the job done, but doing it very, very well.”
Shealy, a business administration major from Charlotte, N.C., is the first UNC player honored as the ACC Scholar-Athlete since Rachel Dawson won the inaugural award in 2007. A two-time winner of the NCAA’s Elite 89 Award, which goes to the student-athlete with the highest GPA at each final four site, Shealy is a Roberton Scholar and was named the 2013 Sports Illustrated female College Athlete of the Year. She also has performed at a high level on the field, with seven goals and nine assists in 2013, when she served as the team captain.
Malmberg, a senior, was named to the team for the fourth time and is the third Tar Heel to be a four-time honoree, following Riley Foster (2006-09) and Elizabeth Drazdowski (2007-10). Drake, also a senior, was honored for the second year in a row.
Juniors joining Shealy, a second-time honoree, on the team are Ammer, Craddock and Travers, all of whom earned the honor for the first time in their careers.
Sophomores Bozek and Wold were honored for the second year in a row, and classmate Di Nardo was honored for the first time.
Read more about Shealy as a Robertson Scholar and about being named Sports Illustrated’s College Athlete of the Year.
Published February 24, 2014.