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Richardson earns All-America honors, three Tigers named Scholar-Athletes

MITCHELL, S.D. – Though the Dakota Wesleyan University women’s soccer storybook season came to an end in the opening round of the NAIA National Tournament on Nov. 21, accolades continue to roll in for the Tigers to honor their incredible performance in 2009.

Dani Richardson

Saturday, junior goalie Dani Richardson became the first women’s soccer All-American in school history when she was selected to the NAIA Women’s Soccer All-America Honorable Mention squad. Richardson and two of her teammates – senior Sarah Duff and junior Ellie Peterson – all received another honor Saturday when they were named NAIA Scholar-Athletes for their performance in the classroom.

Richardson’s All-America selection is the biggest honor for the Tiger goalie in a season full of awards. The Wichita, Kan., native is the first All-American in the five-year history of the program. Including this season, the team had two previous All-Region selections and 16 All-Conference players, but Richardson is fittingly the first Tiger to receive an honor at the national level.

In addition to receiving her All-America Honorable Mention honor, Richardson was also the Great Plains Athletic Conference Co-Defensive Player-of-the-Year and the All-GPAC First Team selection at goalie. She earned the GPAC’s Defensive Player-of-the-Week award three separate times this season as she led the Tigers to an unbeaten regular season, the schools’ first-ever GPAC regular season and postseason championships and the team’s first trip to nationals.

This season, Richardson was a wall in front of the net for DWU. She started all 22 games and led the Tigers to a 17-1-4 overall record, including an 11-0-1 record in conference play. The junior allowed just 15 goals for a goals against average of 0.68 with 124 saves and a .892 save percentage. She set a new DWU individual and school single-season record with 10 shutouts, and she didn’t allow more than one goal in a game until the team’s final two games. In a 0-0, double-overtime tie with Hastings on Sept. 26 Richardson made 21 saves to keep the Broncos off the scoreboard, and was one save away from tying the Tigers’ single-game record.

Though this was Richardson’s first All-America honor, it was her third GPAC All-Conference selection. She was an All-GPAC Honorable Mention pick in 2006 and, after redshirting in 2007, she was an All-GPAC Second Team selection in 2008. She also won the program’s first GPAC Player-of-the-Week honor in 2008 as well.

Ellie Peterson

Sarah Duff

Richardson, along with Duff and Peterson, were also honored for their excellence in the classroom with the NAIA Scholar-Athlete award Saturday. To be eligible for the Scholar-Athlete award, an individual must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale and have achieved junior academic status to qualify.

This is Richardson’s first Scholar-Athlete award. The criminal justice major qualified with a 3.69 GPA. Duff, a senior from Greensboro, N.C., earned her second-straight Scholar-Athlete honor with a 3.79 GPA. She is a public service and leadership major. This is Peterson’s first Scholar-Athlete award. The Fort Collins, Colo., native is also majoring in criminal justice, and she qualified with a 3.55 GPA.

The Scholar-Athlete awards aren’t the first individual honors for Peterson and Duff this season. Peterson earned All-GPAC First Team honors and was named the GPAC Offensive Player-of-the-Week once during the season for her outstanding play. She finished the season with 10 goals, seven assists and 27 points, and she had three game-winning goals during the season. Duff was an All-GPAC Honorable Mention selection this season. She finished with six assists and six points this season, and was the team’s only senior starter.

A total of 387 women’s soccer student-athletes earned NAIA Scholar-Athlete distinction. The NAIA All-American team consisted of first, second and third teams and an honorable mention list. Christiane Christensen from Lee (Tenn.) University was named the 2009 Brine-NAIA Women’s Soccer Player-of-the-Year.