Dec. 12, 2011
VILLANOVA, Pa.--Senior midfielder Katy Nagy (Bellmore, N.Y.) and senior forward Katie Ryan (Wayne, N.J.) were each named to the Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area team, as announced today by the Philadelphia Area Sports Information Directors Association. Both players from Villanova are repeat winners of the award, which is based both on academic success as well as accomplishments on the playing field.
Nagy exemplifies the true meaning of a student-athlete and has been one of the team's most critical players as a starter in the midfield during her career. Academically she is a Marketing major in the Villanova School of Business and maintains a 3.92 grade-point average.
Through the end of the 2011 season Nagy had appeared in 72 games with 56 career starts, including a streak of starting each of the last 50 games she appeared in dating back to the 2009 season. Nagy played in 18 games this year and registered one goal, three assists and five points for the season.
Nagy concluded her Wildcats career with two goals, four assists, eight points and one game-winning goal. At various times in her four years on the team she played every field position and saw the bulk of her playing time as a defensive midfielder or a center back.
Earlier this fall Nagy was named a Capital One Academic All-District 2 first team selection, marking the second straight year she has received the honor (she was a second team choice last season). She is also a three-time BIG EAST Academic All-Star.
Ryan had a record-breaking 2011 season for Villanova, as she became the program's all-time record holder with 15 career game-winning goals. She led the team in goals, points and game-winners on the season while also ranking among the BIG EAST leaders in each of those categories. Ryan ended the year with 12 goals, five assists, 29 points and four game-winning tallies.
The record-setting game-winning goal that Ryan scored came in perhaps the greatest single game of her collegiate career, when she registered six points (two goals, two assists) in a 4-1 win over nationally-ranked West Virginia. That performance earned her numerous Player of the Week honors from both the BIG EAST and at the national level.
Ryan played in 77 games with 61 starts during her Villanova career and wound up with career totals of 40 goals, 22 assists, 102 points, 15 game-winning goals and 206 shots. She became one of just three players in the history of the program with at least 40 career goals and also moved into the top-five in school history in shots (second) and points (third).
Off the field Ryan carries a 3.385 GPA as a Psychology major. She is a three-time BIG EAST Academic All-Star and in 2010 was named to the Capital One Academic All-District 2 second team.
This is the third straight season that both Nagy and Ryan have been named to the Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Team. Each year the sports information directors from 28 area institutions vote on the Academic All-Area Teams for 22 different sports, plus two at-large teams. The teams recognize those student-athletes who are best able to balance athletics with academics, and excel at both. Voting is based on both grades and athletic performance. An overall Performer of the Year is also chosen from each team, as well as a Male Performer of the Year and a Female Performer of the Year at the end of each academic year.
The Academic All-Area program is now in its seventh year. A list of the honorees for each fall sport will appear in the printed edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer at a later date.
Melissa Sanger of La Salle was chosen as the women's soccer Performer of the Year, while the rest of the Academic All-Area Team consisted of Nagy, Ryan, Sarah Banks (Penn), Lauren Brown (Chestnut Hill), Dawn Curry (Holy Family), Kelsey Doutrich (Eastern), Maddy Edwards (Cabrini), Adrienne Lerner (Penn), Tara Malkiewicz (West Chester), Jourdan McVicker (La Salle) and Katie Ruth (Eastern).