Women’s Soccer Maintaining Consistent Academic Success

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- Penn State women’s soccer embodies the meaning of commitment and balance. They represent the renowned Division I soccer team, while also exceeding their academic goals. Not only do they boast the numbers on their jerseys, but the numbers of their outstanding GPAs.
 
For the past two semesters, women’s soccer has finished first out of the 31 Penn State intercollegiate athletic teams with the highest GPA. By utilizing resources such as the Morgan Academic Center, tutoring and prioritizing academics, the women’s soccer team makes being a student-athlete at a Division I university look easy.
 
In the fall, the team had seven players earn a 4.0 GPA including Eva Alonso, Julia Dohle, Cori Dyke, Kerry Abello, Amanda Poorbaugh, Julia Raich and Ally Schlegel, allowing the team to finish on top in terms of GPA rankings out of all Penn State teams.
 
Of course, achieving a 4.0 while in season was only possible for these athletes with the tremendous support they have at Penn State. By utilizing resources such as the Morgan Academic Center, tutoring and the welcoming support the school offers to athletes, succeeding both in school and on the field was feasible.
 
“As freshmen we are required to have seven hours a week of study hours at Morgan Academic Center,” Raich, a freshman, said. “We usually get more anyway just because it’s nice to have a quiet place to study. They have drop-in tutors, group tutors, or you can get them personally for specific classes which I have found very helpful.”
 
The support Penn State offers for student-athletes makes the transition from balancing high school athletics and academics to the collegiate level simple. For Alonso, moving overseas from Spain to play for Penn State with English as her second language was scary enough. However, by utilizing all the support she could get, Alonso managed to maintain a 4.0 even with a language barrier and excelling on the field.
 
“It was a challenge in every way,” Alonso, a sophomore, said. “It’s a new country with a new language and a new educational system. Penn State has awesome support, so everything I needed between the help from tutors, the coaches, anything, they just made my life easier. I had to put in the hard work, but it was easier than I thought.”
 
Dyke, a junior who has started in every single game of her career in the…