HADLEY, Mass. — Stephania Lopez (Sr., Chicago, Ill./St. Ignatius College Prep) was nominated for the 2021 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Woman of the Year award.
The NCAA Woman of the Year program was established in 1991 and honors the academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service and leadership of graduating female college athletes from all three divisions. To be eligible, a nominee must have competed and earned a varsity letter in an NCAA-sponsored sport and must have earned her undergraduate degree by Summer 2021.
Eligible female student-athletes are nominated by their member school. Each conference office then reviews the nominations from its core member schools (and sponsored sports) and submits its conference nominee(s) to the NCAA. All nominees who compete in a sport that is not sponsored by their school’s primary conference, as well as associate conference nominees and independent nominees, will be sent to a separate pool to be considered by a committee. Due to the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) not sponsoring women’s water polo, Lopez will be considered by the NCAA from the separate pool.
The NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee identifies the Top 30 – 10 from each division –and from there selects three finalists from each division. From the nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics then selects the NCAA Woman of the Year, who will be named later this fall.
More information on the NCAA Woman of the Year award and a list of previous winners can be found by CLICKING HERE.
A Dean’s High Honors student, Lopez was heavily involved with campus life every year. She was a PICA scholar and a wellbeing coach for the Office of Wellbeing and Health Promotion. Furthermore, Lopez helped the athletic department as a front desk monitor and served as a student assistant in the sports information department.
Lopez was also the co-founder and first President of the Connecticut College Athletes of Color Coalition (CCACC). In addition to advocating for the group, she organized meetings and events, engaged with other NESCAC institutional student-athlete of color groups, and served as a liaison between the coalition and the Connecticut College administration. Through these experiences, she was able to bridge the gap between black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) student-athletes on different sports teams and create a space for athletes of color to connect and support one another.
The scholar-athlete and three-year captain earned Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) Division III All-America laurels all four years, which included making the First Team as a senior in 2021 after being named to the Second Team her first three years. She became the third Camel student-athlete in any sport to be named an All-American all four years in a single sport in school history.
The 2021 Tammy Brown Award recipient as the top female scholar-athlete in Connecticut College graduating class, she matriculated with a 3.77 cumulative grade point average and earned her degree in behavioral neuroscience. Lopez plans to pursue a master’s degree in public health and physician assistant studies.
Information courtesy New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC)
