ST LOUIS – The Drake University women's soccer team placed three student-athletes, junior Sarah Grace Nicholson(Overland Park, Kan.) along with seniors Rhian Pritchard(Prairie Village, Kan.) and Emma Winstead (Iowa City, Iowa), on the 2015 Missouri Valley Conference Women's Soccer Scholar-Athlete First Team, the league office announcedTuesday morning.

Nicholson, the 2015 MVC Defender of the Year and an All-MVC First Team selection, started 16 matches this year at the defender position, scored one goal and handed out three assists. This is the first MVC Scholar-Athlete award for Nicholson, who holds a 3.66 cumulative grade point average in management.

Pritchard was selected to the All-MVC First Team after starting all 18 matches at the midfielder position for the Bulldogs. This is the first career MVC Scholar-Athlete accolade for Pritchard, who holds a 3.82 GPA in accounting.

Winstead, a 2013 MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team selection, played in 17 games at defender and helped limit the opposing team's top offensive threats in every contest. She scored her first goal on her way to earning her first career All-MVC honor with a second team selection. Winstead holds a 3.93 GPA in pharmacy.

The criteria for the all-MVC honor parallels the CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) standards for Academic All-America voting. Nominees must be starters or important reserves with at least a 3.20 cumulative grade-point average (on a 4.00 scale). Also, students must have participated in at least 75 percent of the regular-season matches or played in the league tournament. Student-athletes must have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at their institution (true freshmen and redshirt freshmen are not eligible) and must have completed at least one full academic year at their institution.