Dec. 17, 2004

Memphis, Tenn. - Junior defender Courtnee Melton of the Memphis women's soccer team was named to the National Soccer Coaches' Association of America (NSCAA)/Adidas South Region Scholar-Athlete third team, it was announced on Friday. Melton is the third Lady Tiger to garner an academic award this year, joining fellow junior Robyn Smart and senior Annika Moller, who were both named to the CoSIDA District IV All-Academic team earlier this year.

Melton, who currently has a 3.619 grade point average while majoring in Exercise and Sport Science, had her season shortened this year by a knee injury suffered in the Tigers' 11th game of the year against Houston on October 3. She played in 11 games on the year while starting nine of them at right defensive back. She took two shots in her 11 games. Memphis had a 0.63 goals against average and allowed just seven goals in the 11 games that she appeared in, during which the Tigers went 8-3.

Also on the NSCAA front, the women's soccer team was a recipient of a 2004 NSCAA women's team academic award. The award, which is based on the team's cumulative grade point average from the 2003-04 school year, is given out to all collegiate teams in America that maintained a team cumulative gpa of 3.0 and above on a 4.0 scale. Coach Brooks Monaghan's squad came in with a 3.21 cumulative gpa over last year.