Three Horizon League Student-Athletes Recognized as NSCAA Scholar All-Americans

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- The National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) recently announced the 2011 NSCAA Women's College Scholar All-America team, as three Horizon League players earned honors. Milwaukee’s Keara Thompson (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) collected Second Team honors while teammate Helen Steinhauser (Ann Arbor, Mich.) received Third Team accolades. Detroit’s Alexandra Suschak (Broadview Heights, Ohio) joined Steinhauser on the team.

Thompson finished the season second on the team in scoring with a career-best 24 points and six goals. Her 12 assists led the league, were 10th in the nation and tied for the second-most in school history. The school record-holder in games played with 87, she finished her career among the top-10 in goals (6th, 18), assists (5th, 25) and points (5th, 61).

Thompson is a biological sciences major and has maintained a 3.92 grade point average.

Steinhauser finished her season with four goals and five assists for 14 points. She started every game and set career highs for goals and points this season. In the classroom, Steinhauser is a mathematics major with a 3.82 GPA.

The duo give Milwaukee now 11 Scholar and Academic All-Americans in team history. Sarah Talbert was a second-team honoree in 2010, while both Sarah Teegarden and Erin Kane earned selections in both 2007 and 2008.

Suschak is the second Titan to ever be named to the All-America Scholar team as Mary Parker was also named to the third team in 2006. Suschak was one of three other Horizon League players, Milwaukee's Keara Thompson (second team) and Helen Steinhauser (third team) to be recognized with the national award. In the region, Suschak became the sixth different Titan to win the honor and it marked the eighth time a women's soccer player was named to a regional team in the 19-year history of Detroit women's soccer. Both honors are a first for Suschak.

Suschak was a defensive force in the Titan backfield for four years. The defender played and started in 72 career games amassing nine goals and six assists, including three game-winning goals. Over the course of her career, she was part of a backline that allowed fewer goals each year starting with a high of 32 in her freshman year of 2008 lowering the number to 28, 24 and then a new Titan single season-best of 16 this past season.

The accolades started for Suschak as a freshman as she was named to the Horizon League All-Newcomer Team in 2008. Last year, she was named to the Horizon League First Team and the Horizon League All-Tournament Team as the Titans reached the conference semifinals for the first time since 2006. This past season, she again was part of the conference first team and the All-Tournament team as Detroit entered the Horizon League Tournament as the No. 2 seed after a 5-2-1 regular season conference record. This year's squad totaled a 12-6-2 overall mark, which was the third best single-season record for Titan's women's soccer.

Suschak, a digital media studies major, holds a cumulative 3.35 GPA through her junior year. She was on Detroit's Athletic Director's Honor Roll in each of the past three years and she was also named to the Horizon League's Fall and Spring Academic Honor Roll in each of her eligible years as a sophomore and junior.

The scholar athletes will be publically recognized at the annual All-America Luncheon, to be held in the Kansas City Convention Center's Grand Ballroom on Saturday, Jan. 14, in conjunction with the 2012 NSCAA Convention in Kansas City, Mo.

Based in Kansas City, Kansas, the NSCAA is the largest soccer coaches' organization in the world. Since its founding in 1941, the National Soccer Coaches Association of America has grown to include more than 30,000 members who coach both genders at all levels of the sport. In addition to a national rankings program for colleges and high schools, NSCAA offers an extensive recognition program that presents nearly 10,000 individual awards every year. The NSCAA fulfills its mission of coaching education through a nationwide program of clinics and week-long courses, teaching more than 6,000 soccer coaches each year.