KANSAS CITY, KS (www.NJCUGothicKnights.com)...Freshman keeper CATHERINE HENSLEY (Dripping Springs, TX/Dripping Springs) of the New Jersey City University women’s soccer team has recently been honored for her academic excellence as a high school player last spring in Texas. Her Dripping Springs Texas High School team has received the 2009 NSCAA High School Team Academic Award from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
Hensley was part of a team with a combined 3.75 GPA. A total of 426 soccer teams in the United States—and just 261 girls programs—earned the NSCAA Team Academic Award for their team performance in the classroom during the 2008-09 academic year. To qualify for the award, the team must have a minimum grade point average of 3.25 for the entire academic year. The team GPA is determined by adding every player’s GPA, then dividing by the number of players.
Of the 13 Texas girls teams that received the awards—in a state where soccer is a spring sport beginning in January, rather than a fall activity—Hensley’s DSHS team had the fifth highest GPA.
Hensley, who is attending NJCU on a Presidential academic scholarship while majoring in political science, has continued her academic and athletic excellence in her first semester at NJCU.
In the classroom, she achieved a perfect 4.0 GPA in the Fall 2009 semester, completing 15 credits, while adjusting to the speed and time commitment involved in playing collegiate soccer on a campus more than 1800 miles from home. She intends to become a lawyer, and perhaps teach, after graduating from NJCU.
Hensley was a key part of NJCU’s record-breaking women’s soccer team, which went a school-best 13-9 overall and 8-2 at home, and qualified for the post-season for the first time in its history, advancing to the Eastern College Athletic Conference Metro semifinals, before falling with 33 seconds remaining in that playoff contest.
She played in 12 of NJCU’s 22 games as a rookie, becoming a starter towards the end of the season. She played every second of NJCU’s two ECAC playoff games. In 12 games this season, she started four times and logged 532:58 minutes of action, finishing with a 2-2-0 record and one shutout.
Hensley faced 86 shots, making 32 saves for a .711 save percentage, while allowing 13 goals—including one penalty shot.
With the exception of a 7-0 loss to eventual national semifinalist and New Jersey Athletic Conference champion The College of New Jersey on October 3 in her first career start, Hensley was brilliant in her other appearances, allowing just six goals in a span of 442:58 over the remaining 11 games.
While she had 12 saves in the loss to TCNJ, facing 36 shots, she proved in the 2-1 loss to William Paterson University in the ECAC Semifinals that she would be a long-time contributor to the program, stopping six shots—several inside the box—while keeping NJCU alive, against 16 shots. She was also inserted at halftime of a regular-season ending, 2-1 loss at Montclair State University on October 29, and made two stops without allowing the Red Hawks to get on the board in that period.
Hensley came to NJCU with superior credentials. A four-year varsity soccer player for Coach Brandon McCallum at DSHS, she played in all 105 games for the Tigers during her prep years, leading them to the state regional semifinals and a four-year record of 86-12-7 with a school career record 55 shutouts. Hensley, the 2008 Texas District 51-4A Goalkeeper of the Year and Second-Team All-Central Texas selection, led the Tigers to a school-record 18 shutouts as a senior. She was named First- Team All-District Region IV-4A as a junior (2007) and senior. She received a number of academic awards at Dripping Springs High. A member of the National Honor Society, she was a four-year UIL All-Academic award winner in girls’ soccer and a UIL All-State recipient.
Fourth-year head coach ROBERT BIELAN had only admiration for his rookie keeper. “She came here as the backup keeper, worked harder than almost anyone on the field and never quit, and when the time came for the playoffs, she stepped up like a starter. And while doing all this, she maintains a 4.0 GPA. She only knows how to succeed. If she’s going to do anything, she’s going to give it 110 percent. She truly has the right approach and is what every student-athlete should strive to be. We are lucky to have her representing NJCU, academically and athletically.”
—www.njcugothicknights.com—
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