5 Soccer Players Recognized on Academic All-District Team

By Press release submission

Nov 26, 2022

Five Purdue soccer players have been honored on the Academic All-District Team by the College Sports Communicators (formerly CoSIDA).

Fifth-year Sydney Duarte, seniors Lauren Holleran and Hannah Lapeire and juniors Nicole Kevdzija and Emily Mathews are recognized for their academic and athletic success in both the 2022 season and throughout their careers.

This year's five honorees are Purdue's first since 2019 and the most in a single season in program history. Prior to 2022, the Boilermakers had three players recognized in both 2006 and 2007, and the program now has 18 total Academic All-District honors.

To be considered, student-athletes must maintain a minimum 3.50 GPA, be a starter or key reserve that has played in at least 50 percent of their school's contests and be in at least their second year at their current school.

Duarte was named Purdue's Sportsmanship Award honoree in October and is a multiple-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree and Big Ten Distinguished Scholar. A Lake Forest, California, native, she earned her nursing degree in May, 2021, and will earn a certificate in strategic communication management in December. Duarte played in 83 games with 66 starts in her five-year Boilermaker career. She scored seven goals with eight assists for 22 points, and recorded one game-winning goal and two game-winning assists in nearly 5,500 minutes. In 2022 as a fifth-year midfielder, Duarte was second on the team with four assists and two goals and second with eight points, as she played in all 17 games with 15 starts and totaled 1,122 minutes.

Holleran hails from Centennial, Colorado, and will graduate in May with a degree in selling & sales management. A defender, she has played in 38 games with 32 starts in two seasons as a Boilermaker. Holleran has two assists, both game-winners, in more than 2,600 minutes as a key part of Purdue's defensive success. In 2022 as a senior, she played in 16 games with 10 starts and totaled 833 minutes.

A multiple-time Academic All-Big Ten awardee from Buffalo Grove, Illinois, Lapeire will earn her Purdue degree in public health and communications in May. She has played in 32 career games with 15 starts and has one assist with nine shots in nearly 1,500 minutes. As a senior midfielder in 2022, Lapeire played in every game with a career-best 10 starts and six shots as she logged 946 minutes.

Kevdzija is an Academic All-Big Ten honoree and an electrical engineering major from Strongsville, Ohio. In three seasons and nearly 3,500 minutes, she has played in 51 games with 39 starts and has scored five goals, three of them game-winners, with three assists in addition to being an important part of the Boilermakers' back line. In 2022 as a junior defender, Kevdzija played in all 17 games with eight starts and scored one goal.

Mathews has earned All-North Region Third Team, All-Big Ten First Team and Academic All-Big Ten accolades throughout her three-year career. The Macomb, Michigan, native is pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering. Mathews has started all 51 games she has appeared in and scored seven goals with 16 assists for 30 points in almost 4,500 minutes. As a junior midfielder in 2022, she led the team with seven assists and was third with nine points in a squad-best 1,469 points.