Women's Soccer | 10/27/2016 11:18:00 AM
ABILENE - Abilene Christian senior defender
Kelsie Roberts Thursday became the first Wildcat soccer player in the program's 10-year history to make three-consecutive CoSIDA Academic All-District Teams.
Roberts was the lone Southland Conference player voted to the Academic All-District 7 team
[McNeese's Bettina Brulhart made All-Distrcit 6] and one of only four defenders, joining Oklahoma junior Madeline Brem, Texas senior Isabelle Kerr, and Texas Tech sophomore Brooke Denesik. The team additionally featured Red Raider goalkeeper Lauren Watson, midfielders Kate Hajdu (Texas A&M), Caroline Flynn (Nebraska) and Hannah Dauzat (Houston), and forwards Courtney Dike (Oklahoma), Liz Keester (Oklahoma), and Laurel Ramer (Wyoming).
Roberts is at the tail end of a remarkable four-year career with the Wildcats who have one match remaining this season. The Lucas, Texas, native has been a starter on the back line from the first day of her freshman year, helping the team capture four-consecutive winning seasons against the Southland Conference in addition to 37 victories and 22 shutouts.
And just this past year she's become an offensive force, knocking in a career season high four goals against teams from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Nicholls, Houston Baptist and McNeese. She currently ranks fourth on the team with nine points.
In the classroom, Roberts has maintained a perfect 4.00 cumulative grade-point average through her first six semesters as a biochemistry major. Last year she made her second CoSIDA Academic All-America team and has frequently made both ACU's Dean's List and the Southland Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll. Roberts also was twice voted First Team Southland Conference All-Academic.
A National AP Scholar, Roberts has shown a deep interest in healthcare since her days a student at Lovejoy High School. She shadowed general surgeon Dr. Christopher Bell at Medical City Dallas Children's Hospital prior to her senior year, and later became a certified nursing assistant.
During the summer between her freshman and sophomore years at ACU, Roberts traveled to Montevideo, Uruguay to shadow doctors as part of her global healthcare studies class. And in recent semesters she has shadowed three doctors at Abilene Regional Hospital: Dr. John Cole (General Surgeon), Dr. Timothy Bumann (Wound Care), and Dr. Charles Anderson (OBGYN).
Roberts' time off the pitch also includes involvement with Meals on Wheels, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, W-Club, and Disability Resources, Inc.,, where she works with physically and mentally disabled adolescents and adults.
CoSIDA District 7 includes all NCAA Division I schools from Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
Roberts is the eighth different Wildcat since 2011 to make an Academic All-District team and the first to receive this honor in three consecutive years. Last October she became the first Wildcat to make teams in consecutive years since since Julie Coppedge did so in 2011 and 2012. Six players earned this distinction in 2011, while in 2012 the honor went to Coppedge and goalkeeper Arielle Moncure.
Defender Brie Buschman made history in 2013 by becoming the program's first Academic All-America First Team selection. Buschman was a third-team Academic All-America honoree as a sophomore in 2011. Coppedge received third-team honors in 2012 in addition to a NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship.
Roberts' Wildcats are in action Friday vs. Incarnate Word at 7 p.m. at UIW's Gayle and Tom Benson Stadium.
