ST. LOUIS -- The 2018 Missouri Valley Conference Women's Soccer Scholar-Athlete Teams were announced today (Nov. 13) by the league office and the Sycamores picked up a pair of selections. Senior Katie Wells and sophomore Danielle Varner were each honored by the league office. The teams were selected by a vote of the league's sports information directors, with input from the league's head coaches.

Katie Wells, who was earlier named to the Google Cloud Academic All-District First Team, was likewise named to the MVC Women's Soccer Scholar-Athlete First Team. She is currently on the NCAA Division I Academic All-America ballot. She was also named an All-MVC First Team selection. She finishes her career as a three-time All-MVC and three-time MVC Scholar-Athlete selection.

Wells, who carries a 3.96 grade point average in Athletic Training, finished her senior season with 12 goals scored which broke the previous school record of 10 set by Abby Reed in 2013. Her 31 points this season crushed the previous school record of 25 set by Lauren Podolski in 2006. She finished the year with a 1.72 points per game average which topped the previous best of 1.39 set by Podolski in the 2006 campaign. Her seven assists this season were tops in the Missouri Valley Conference and third-best ever at ISU. She finished her career with 67 points which is second in program history and only three behind Podolski's school record of 70. She finished with a 0.96 points per match average for second-best at ISU. Wells finished her career with 24 career goals scored which was only one shy of Podolski's school record of 25. She finished her career with six game-winning goals, including two during her senior season. Wells scored a goal in each of her last five matches as a Sycamore. 

Danielle Varner was named to the MVC Scholar-Athlete Honorable Mention team. She was earlier named to the All-MVC Second Team. Varner, who maintains a 3.93 GPA in Nursing, played and started in all 18 matches for the Sycamores. She scored a pair of goals and added an assist for a total of five points on the season. Varner fired off 15 shots during the season, including five shots on goal. She scored her first goal of the season at Akron as she had three shots in the contest. Varner then added another goal as part of the eight goal outburst against Chicago State. She tallied an assist in conference play at Missouri State. Varner was named the MVC Defensive Player of the Week after the Sycamores completed a busy three-game road swing around the Labor Day weekend undefeated. It was her first career MVC Weekly honor.

This season, 47 student-athletes were nominated for the Valley's scholar-athlete team. The criteria for the honor parallels the CoSIDA standards for Academic All-America voting. Nominees must be starters or important reserves with at least a 3.20 cumulative GPA (on a 4.00 scale). Also, students must have participated in at least 75 percent of the regular-season matches or the MVC Championship. Student-athletes must have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at their institution (true freshmen and redshirt freshmen were not eligible) and must have completed at least one full academic year at their institution.