Skarupa Nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year

Women's hockey's Haley Skarupa '16 is Boston College's nominee for the 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year Award, the NCAA announced on Tuesday.

The NCAA 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.

Skarupa helped lead the Eagles' powerhouse women's hockey program to a record-setting season in 2015-16, as well as posting record-breaking individual accomplishments. She helped the team start the season with a perfect 40-0-0 record as they advanced to their first-ever national championship game in late March.

Offensively, Skarupa was a major part of the Eagles' NCAA-record 592 points and 379 assists this season, while the team's 40 wins marked the second-highest single-season team total in NCAA history.

As an alternate captain for the Eagles, Skarupa's 79 points this past year ranked third nationally. Her 35 goals were third-most in the country, while her 44 assists were second-highest in the country. Both marks were career-bests and among the program's best single-season marks. She earned All-America honors and her fourth Hockey East All-Star accolade, as well as her second appearance on the Patty Kazmaier Top-10 finalists list.

For her collegiate career, Skarupa finished with 244 points – second in Boston College history, both in the women's program and among all hockey players at The Heights, men or women.

In April, she won her second straight IIHF world championship with the U.S. National Team, playing in all five of the U.S.' games en route to the gold medal following an overtime win against Canada in the title game.

Off the ice, Skarupa was very active in the community, volunteering time with Team Impact, Newton Special Athletes, St. Columbkille School's Mentor Program, as well as Cycle for Survival.

Skarupa graduated from the Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences in May with a degree in psychology. She intends to continue her hockey career, both with the U.S. National Team and at the professional level. Drafted by the New York Riveters with the fifth overall selection in the 2015 NWHL Draft, her rights were traded to the Connecticut Whale in April.

The 2016 pool of school honorees for the NCAA Woman of the Year marks the largest in the 26-year history of the award. Of the nominees for the national award, 231 competed in Division I, 117 competed in Division II and 169 competed in Division III athletics. The nominees also represent 21 different women's sports, and 127 of the nominees competed in more than one sport in college.

A total of nine women's hockey players were nominated for the NCAA Woman of the Year, including Division I players Shelby Amsley-Benzie (North Dakota), Kendall Coyne (Northeastern) and Nicole Hensley (Lindenwood).

The NCAA encourages member schools to honor their top graduating female student-athletes each year by submitting their names for consideration for the Woman of the Year award.

Next, conferences assess their member school nominees and select up to two conference nominees. The Woman of the Year selection committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will then choose the top 30 honorees – 10 from each division.

From the top 30, the selection committee determines the top three honorees from each division and announces the nine finalists in September. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics then chooses from among those nine to determine the 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year.

The top 30 honorees will be celebrated and the 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year winner will be announced at the annual award ceremony Oct. 16 in Indianapolis.

Skarupa Nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year

Players Mentioned

Haley Skarupa

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