OFFICIAL RELEASE FROM THE NCAA

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Former Vassar College field hockey student-athlete Monica Feeley has been named a Top 9 honoree for the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year Award. Now in its 29th year, the NCAA Woman of the Year Award recognizes graduating female student-athletes for excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership.

The Top 9 honorees were narrowed down from the field of 30, which included 10 honorees from each of the three NCAA divisions. Feeley is now one of three remaining Division III honorees, a feat that has only been accomplished by one other Brewer in school history.

An initial pool of 585 school nominees - a program record – were submitted for consideration. From there, the pool was narrowed by conference offices and a selection committee to move forward 151 nominees for consideration. The Top 30 honorees were then chosen, which included 10 from each of the three NCAA divisions.

Feeley, who graduated in May 2019 as a dual major in biology and psychology, carried a cumulative GPA of 3.83. A native of Harrisburg, PA., she was the first player in program history to ever be named National All-American by the NFHCA, garnering First Team honors.
The First Team honor capped an incredible 2018-19 season and collegiate career for Feeley, who was also named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Second Team – an honor that has only been achieved by eight Vassar student-athletes in school history. Additionally, she was named the Liberty League Defensive Player of the Year following a 2018 season which saw her post seven defensive saves for the Brewers blueline.

Feeley led Vassar onto the national stage during her senior campaign, as the squad won the Liberty League title and earned the program's first bid into the NCAA National Championship. She was named the NFHCA North Atlantic Region Player of the Year, All-Liberty League First Team, All-ECAC First Team, an NFHCA Senior All-Star, the Liberty League Scholar Athlete of the Year and a CWSA DIII Honda Athlete of the Year finalist.

During her junior campaign, Feeley earned All-Liberty League First Team in spite of several injuries throughout the year. A Liberty League All-Academic Team selection, she started and played in 10 games, tallying one assist while being a part of a defensive unit that only allowed six goals in her 10 games played.

As a sophomore, Feeley established herself as one of the most dominant players on the field for the Brewers. She played in 16 games, including 14 as a starter with one goal to her credit against William Paterson. A conference Defensive Player of the Year finalist, she was instrumental in helping the Brewers to 11 shutouts on the season, including an eight-game shutout streak. Her efforts helped Vassar allow just 13 goals all season. 

Feeley began her Brewers career as a midfielder, netting two goals and five assists as a rookie. During her freshman year, she played in 15 games, 13 as a starter, and finished the year tied for eighth in the Liberty League for assists per game with a .333 average.
A three-time Liberty League All-Academic Team selection, Feeley served as co-founder and Vice President of the Vassar chapter of the International Medical Relief of Children. Her service included planning of activities and fundraisers, as well as serving on the executive board.

In addition to working as a volunteer coach for the Dutchess Field Hockey League – a start-up league in Poughkeepsie during the fall season for kindergarten through high school – Feeley also worked as a nutrition instructor at the Hawk Meadows Montessori School. Among her duties included teaching health and nutrition lesson to children, while utilizing the school's greenhouse for lessons on produce.

Feeley spent time volunteering for the Dutchess Outreach Farm Stand Project to distribute fresh produce to those in need in Poughkeepsie, while also working with the Children's Home of Poughkeepsie. That experience included playing games, sports and making crafts with the children in the emergency section of the foster care home ranging in ages from infant to 18 years old.

A Supplemental Instructor in the Biology and Neuroscience Departments at Vassar during the 2018-19 school year, she also worked as a research assistant in microbiology for three years. Her work included completing a research project examining the influence of the gut microbiome on behavior in Callosobruchus maculatus.

In addition to earning the Virginia Swinburne Brownell Prize for outstanding work and research in biology, Feeley earned the Marshall Pregnall Memorial Prize in 2018, given to a junior biology major to use toward scholarly work in biology during their senior year. She also earned the 2015 Vassar College Olive Lammert Book Prize for excellent work in General Chemistry and was the campus activity chair for three years for the Women in STEM program at Vassar.

Feeley was inducted into Sigma Xi for her research achievement in a field or pure or applied science. She was also inducted into the Psi Chi International Honors  Society in psychology after having earned an outstanding GPA in her major, as well as a minimum of 3.7 overall GPA. Additionally Feeley garnered year-end honors within the Vassar Department of Athletics and Physical Education, earning the female Betty Richey Performer of the Year Award, given in recognition of outstanding athletics performance in an academic year.

Vassar has seen four former student-athletes earn NCAA Woman of the Year Top 30 honors, including tennis player Debbie Sharnak '07, swimmer Emily Love '09 and tennis player Nicole Pontee '10. Only Sharnak – a current lecturer in history and literature at Harvard University – and Feeley have been top nine honorees.

From the nine remaining finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will select the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year on October 20 at a ceremony in Indianapolis. The ceremony will be broadcast live on the NCAA's official Twitter feed, https://twitter.com/NCAA, beginning at 7pm (Eastern).