Nichols Among 30 Candidates for Lowe's Senior CLASS Award
Complete Lowe's Senior CLASS Award Release
Nichols's Bio on Lowe's Senior Class Award
site
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard senior
defender Lizzy Nichols is one of 30 of the nation’s best
women’s soccer players who were selected as the 2009
candidates of the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award for displaying
both on-field and off-field excellence.
Nichols, one of four Ivy League players selected, will serve as a
co-captain of the Crimson this fall. A native of Princeton, N.J.,
she is a three-time All-Ivy League honoree, including a two-time
first-team selection, has garnered Soccer Buzz All-Northeast Region
honors twice and received NSCAA All-Northeast Region distinction in
2007. Nichols tallied two goals last season as a junior, including
the game winner on a penalty kick at 109:51 in Harvard's 2-1
double-overtime victory over Columbia Nov. 8. The win clinched the
Ivy League title for the Crimson, the program's first since 1999,
and clinched Harvard’s automatic berth in the NCAA
tournament.
A double concentrator in history and literature and history of art
and architecture, Nichols attended Columbia’s Paris program
in art and urban studies last year and received a Weatherhead grant
for thesis research in Morocco and Paris during the summer of 2009.
She was an ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Team honoree a
year ago and is a two-time Academic All-Ivy League choice.
In the community, Nichols is a member of a board of a Harvard
student-run non-profit organization called Circle of Women, which
is committed to promoting women’s education in the developing
world. One project, entitled “Project Wonkhai,”
involved the construction of a school for girls in Wardak,
Afghanistan, which required raising $120,000 and working with local
collaborators to oversee construction. After the building was
completed, Nichols, the web officer of the organization, helped
raise money for school supplies, teacher training programs and
vocational training.
She has also spent time volunteering with her teammates at a local
pre-school, worked with Habitat for Humanity, organized soccer
clinics for local children and participated in the Harvard
Athletics Bench Press for Cancer. She is currently helping the
organization of the Goals4Leaders program, a project that will help
raise funds for Coaches across Continents, a non-profit
organization that uses the game of soccer to teach life and
leadership skills in the developing world.
To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified
as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four
areas of excellence – classroom, character, community and
competition. From the list of 30 candidates, a national media
committee will select 10 finalists for the 2009 Lowe’s Senior
CLASS Award at the end of September. Those 10 names will then be
placed on the official ballot for a nationwide vote beginning Oct.
5 and concluding Nov. 13.
Fan balloting will be coupled with votes from coaches and media to
determine the recipient of the award who best exemplifies
excellence in the four Cs of classroom, character, community and
competition. The winner will be announced during the 2009 NCAA
Division I Women's College Cup in College Station, Texas, scheduled
for December 4-6.
This marks the third year for the men’s and women’s
soccer division of the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award, and more
than 175 student-athletes were nominated this year.
Photo of Lizzy Nichols courtesy DSPics.com.
