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Nov. 19, 2010
EL PASO, TEXAS- UTEP senior defender Melissa Desilets has been tabbed to the 2010 ESPN Academic All-America® Women's Soccer second team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). The native of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, boasts a 4.00 cumulative GPA in chemistry. Desilets is the first Miner soccer student-athlete since Jami Tullius (2005, second team) and fourth overall to reap the honor. Holly Cohen (2002, first team) & Heather Clark (2004, first team) were also so recognized. Previous scholastic accolades for Desilets include being a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District VI first team honoree (2009 & 2010) and a member of the Conference USA women's soccer Academic All-Conference squad on three occasions (2008, 2009 & 2010). "Being named an academic All-American is one of the very best awards a student-athlete can receive," UTEP head coach Kevin Cross said. "This award signifies that Melissa (Desilets) has excelled both on the field and in the classroom. This is an elite honor, and I am extremely proud of Melissa for receiving such an outstanding award." She co-captained the 2010 team to a final record of 11-8-0, which served as the school-record ninth successive winning season. The Miners permitted only 22 goals on the campaign, which rated tied for the third-lowest seasonal scoring total by the opposition in school history. UTEP registered a quartet of shutouts while limiting 10 other teams to just one strike. The Orange and Blue held 17 of 19 opponents to two goals or less. As result of tight marking, UTEP's foes mustered a mere 6.5 shots on goals per game.
Desilets concluded her career by playing in every minute of every match for a program-best 35 games (spanning the 2009 & 2010 seasons). In fact, she missed a total of eight minutes of action during the final 51 matches of her career.
To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 15,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports. For more information about the ESPN Academic All-America® Teams program, please visit www.cosida.com. 
 
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