Nichols Named to ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District First Team; Sheeleigh, Baskind Earn Spots on Third Team

Pictured: Melanie Baskind (left) and Lizzy Nichols (right) joined teammate Katherine Sheeleigh on the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District team.
Photo courtesy: David Silverman Photography

Vote Lizzy Nichols for Lowe's Senior CLASS Award

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Three members of the Harvard women's soccer team -- senior Lizzy Nichols, junior Katherine Sheeleigh and sophomore Melanie Baskind -- have been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District team, it was announced this weekend.  Nichols, a first-team selection, is now eligible for Academic All-America honors.  Sheeleigh and Baskind earned distinction on the third team.

Nichols, a co-captain of the Crimson, is one of 10 finalists for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award this season for for displaying both on-field and off-field excellence.  A defender from Princeton, N.J., Nichols 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.  This season, Nichols has scored two goals, including one on a penalty kick againt Penn Sept. 26.

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 honoree a year ago and has also earned two nods on the Academic All-Ivy League team during her career at Harvard.

Sheeleigh, an economics concentrator from New Vernon, N.J., was the Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2007 and is a two-time All-Ivy and NSCAA All-Region choice, as well as a Soccer Buzz All-Northeast Region selection last fall.  As a freshman, she chosen to the Soccer Buzz freshman All-America third team, as well as publication's All-Northeast Region second team and the All-Northeast Region freshman first team. Sheeleigh paces the Crimson in scoring this season with eight tallies and 20 points. She scored twice in Harvard's 2-1 win over Dartmouth Saturday, helping Harvard clinch its second straight Ivy League title and automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.

A native of Framingham, Mass., Baskind leads the Crimson with six assists and stands second with 10 points this fall.  As a freshman in 2008, Baskind was tabbed the Ivy League Rookie of the Year and garnered second team All-Ivy and NSCAA All-Northeast Region status, as well as a nod to the Soccer America All-Freshman team.  Last fall, Baskind led the Crimson with 19 points on six goals and seven assists.