LANCASTER, Pa. -- Swarthmore women's soccer standout Marin McCoy has been selected as the Centennial Conference's nominee for the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year. The Centennial nominee for NCAA Woman of the Year is selected annually by the conference Senior Woman Administrators.
Now in its 29th year, the Woman of the Year award honors graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in academics, athletics, service, and leadership. Every year, the NCAA encourages each member college and university to honor its top one or two graduating female student-athletes by submitting their names for consideration for the Woman of the Year award.
To be eligible, a nominee must have competed and earned a varsity letter in an NCAA-sponsored sport, must have completed eligibility in her primary sport, and must have earned her undergraduate degree by Summer 2019. Click here for more information on the award and a list of previous winners.
McCoy is the sixth Swarthmore student-athlete to be chosen as the CC's nominee for NCAA Woman of the Year. She joins Cait Mullarkey (2009), Katie Lytle (2014), Aarti Rao (2014), Supriya Davis (2015), and Tess Wei (2017) as conference representatives for the Garnet, who have compiled more nominees than any other school in the conference.
A biology major from Denver, Colo., McCoy graduated from Swarthmore this spring with a 3.91 cumulative grade point average. Excelling both on the field and in the classroom, she became the 24th student-athlete and second women's soccer player in Swarthmore history to receive CoSIDA Academic All-America honors in 2018, earning second team accolades. A three-time Academic All-Centennial and Centennial Academic Honor Roll selection, she was also a two-time United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-American, a two-time Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Team selection, a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree, and a member of the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa honor society.
On the field, McCoy concluded her career as one of the most decorated women's soccer players in the conference history. She spearheaded Swarthmore to its most successful four-year stretch in program history, compiling a 65-14-6 record while leading the Garnet to the NCAA Tournament four times, including a trip to the national quarterfinals in 2015 and the Sweet 16 in 2018. This past fall, she became just the fourth player in conference history to earn Centennial Player of the Year honors twice, while also becoming the 10th player to receive first-team All-Centennial recognition four times. She went on to earn All-America honors for the third time in her illustrious career. She was a United Soccer Coaches first team All-America pick in 2018 after previously earning second team awards in both 2017 and 2015. A four-time All-Region pick, McCoy was also the CC Rookie of the Year in 2015.
Statistically, she completed her career ranked t-2nd in Centennial women's soccer history in assists (35), 3rd in points (149), and t-4th goals (57). She holds the Swarthmore program records in all three of those categories.
In addition to her accomplishments on the field and in the classroom, McCoy was a leader on campus and in the community by serving in a wide variety of leadership roles, service projects, and volunteer efforts throughout her four years at Swarthmore. She served as a residential assistant on campus and became a mentor for residents on various issues including mental health, sexual assault, and identity. She also helped formulate and worked as a peer facilitator for the Body Project, a student group that discusses body image and societal pressures, and worked as a peer mental health leader in Speak2Swatties, a campus group seeking to remove the stigma surrounding mental illness.
While studying abroad in Quinto, Ecaudor, she performed research on sexual harassment and violence to create an educational experiential game to educate university students about different kinds of gendered violience. She worked with Girls Inc. of Metro Denver, a non-profit serving girls from low-income families, as a STEM and body movement instructor for elementary and middle school students, and interned at Rainbow Alley, an LGBTQ drop-in center in Denver that provides support, care, and resources for youth ages 11-18.
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. The Committee on Women's Athletics then selects the winner from the nine finalists. All 30 Woman of the Year honorees will be recognized, and the 2019 Woman of the Year announced, at an awards dinner at the Westin Indianapolis on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2019.
Previous Centennial Conference NCAA Woman of the Year Nominees