COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- The Golden Eagle women's soccer squad was one of 630 teams (194 men, 436 women) to be awarded the National Soccer Coaches Association of American (NSCAA) Team Academic Award for the 2009-10 academic year.

In charge of administering over 10,000 awards per year, the NSCAA "administers an outstanding awards and recognition program which includes Coach of the Year, All-America, long-term service and special recognition awards designed to recognize excellence in soccer, academics and service to the game."

In order to be eligible for the team academic award, a program must post a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher for the duration of one full academic calendar year.

"Our team is comprised of some of Tech's top students," head coach Daniel Brizard said. "We had five players nominated for Academic All-America this season amongst several members of the team who posted noteworthy grade point averages."

During the 2009-10 academic year, the soccer team combined for a composite 3.43 GPA.

"We pride ourselves on building superb student-athletes at Tennessee Tech," said Director of Athletics Mark Wilson. "Our women's soccer team is just one testament to the fact that all of our athletic programs concentrate just as much on academics as they do on field performance.

"Our coaches, staff and administration work day in and day out to prepare TTU student-athletes to be their best, both on and off the field. We're proud of the recognition that our soccer team has earned in posting such a respectable grade point average," Wilson finished.