Nov. 11, 2009

AMHERST, Mass. - UMass women's lacrosse junior midfielder Jaclyn Lyons is of 22 student-athletes nationally to earn an Academic Momentum award, the Scholar-Baller Program and National Consortium for Academics and Sports (NCAS), announced recently. Seventy-nine nominations were submitted from 50 different colleges and universities across the country. A male winner (two ties) was chosen from all of the NCAS' 10 regions and a female winner (two ties) was chosen from eight of the NCAS' 10 regions.

Lyons, a Sociology from Rocky Point, N.Y., was selected as the female winner from the New England region. She will receive a certificate, Scholar-Baller patch and a Thinkwoman trophy.

As a sophomore in 2009, Lyons helped the Minutewomen capture the Atlantic 10 Championship an earn a berth into the NCAA Tournament as the team's leading scorer with 71 points on 44 goals and 27 assists. She was named an All-Atlantic 10 First Team selection and earned a spot on the A-10 All-Tournament Team.

In 2008 as a freshman, Lyons was an Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team member after finishing the year with nine goals, four assists, 22 groundballs, 20 draw controls and 13 caused turnovers.

The NCAS is an ever-growing organization of colleges and universities that provides opportunities for current and former student-athletes to continue their pursuit of higher education, while working in the community with children to address social issues. Established in 1995, the Scholar-Baller movement evolved in response to concerns that the student-athlete's athletic role increasingly superseded the student role. In order to address this issue, the founding members of Scholar-Baller developed a groundbreaking program to bridge the gap between education and sport utilizing student-athletes' passion for entertainment and athletics.