USU soccer: Norris earns Co-SIDA Academic All-District honors

Utah State soccer senior defender Natalie Norris was named to the 2012 Capital One Academic all-District ® Women's Soccer first team, selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America; it was announced Friday.

Norris continues to win awards this week as she was named Western Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year for the third-straight season on Wednesday. She also earned first-team all-WAC honors.

The Sandy, Utah, native was the first Utah State soccer player to earn CoSIDA honors when she was honored last year. The senior has a 3.95 with a double major in nutrition, dietetics & food science and exercise science. She has earned academic all-WAC honors the last three seasons.

The Academic All-District teams include student-athletes divided into eight geographic districts across the United States and Canada. This is the second year of the expanded Academic All-America program as CoSIDA moved from recognizing a University Division (Division I) and a College Division (all non Division I) and has doubled the number of scholar-athletes honored. The expanded teams include NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III participants, while the College Division team combines NAIA, Canadian and two-year schools.

On the field, Norris is part of the Utah State defense that allowed only 10 goals this season and two in WAC matches. Offensively, she scored three goals for six points. Norris was named WAC Defensive Player of the Year for the third-straight season, becoming the first player in the conference's history to earn the Defensive Player of the Year honor three seasons in a row.

Norris and the Aggies are back in action Friday, Nov. 2, in the semifinals of the WAC Tournament in Logan at Chuck and Gloria Bell Soccer Field. Top-seeded Utah State will face fifth-seeded Seattle at 2:30 p.m.

Soccer fans can watch the WAC Tournament throughwww.wacsports.com. The cost of the WAC Soccer Tournament All-Access Pass is $10.95.

DISTRICT VIII

NCAA DIVISION I (AK, AZ, CA, HI, NV, OR, UT, WA, Canada)

FIRST TEAM

Pos. Name School Yr. Hometown GPA Major

GK Kylie Wassell UNLV Jr. Las Vegas, Nev. 4.00 Secondary education

D Diane Buzzard NORTHERN ARIZONA So. Flagstaff, Ariz. 3.90 Environmental engineering

D Natalie Norris UTAH STATE Sr. Sandy, Utah 3.95 Dietetics & exercise science

D Jasmine Roth ARIZONA STATE Jr. West Covina, Calif. 4.00 Biochemistry

D Chelsea Stewart UCLA Jr. Highlands Ranch, Colo. 3.56 Economics

M Courtney Botelho UNLV Jr. Mililani, Hawaii 3.91 Kinesiology

M Brandi Dawson OREGON STATE Jr. Gaston, Ore. 3.96 Human dev. & family science

M Mariah Nogueira STANFORD Sr. Westminster, Calif. 3.63 Psychology

F Amanda LeCave PEPPERDINE So. Windsor, Calif. 3.60 Undeclared

F Elinor Priest NORTHERN ARIZONA Jr. Portland, Ore. 4.00 English / psychology

F Courtney Verloo STANFORD Jr. Tualatin, Ore. 3.50 Human biology

Doug Hoffman is the assistant athletic director for Utah State University Athletic Media Relations.