CHICAGO – On Thursday, the 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-District® Women's Soccer Teams, selected by CoSIDA, were unveiled and UIC junior defender Emily Valentine earned a spot on the District 5 First Team. As a first team honoree, Valentine advances to the Google Cloud Academic All-America® ballot.
 
Valentine earns the Academic All-District distinction for the second straight year after placing on the second team last season. She is the only player in UIC women's soccer history to All-District accolades from CoSIDA.
 
A native of Rockford, Ill., Valentine owns a perfect 4.0 grade-point average while enrolled as a Statistics major. Her work in the classroom as not gone unnoticed as she placed on the Horizon League All-Academic Team the past two seasons.
 
On the field, Valentine earned the most minutes (1,647) out of any player and was the only one to start all 19 matches. As the leader of the back line, she helped the Flames secure three shutouts and hold opponents to 15 or fewer shots nine times. On offense, she ranked fifth in shots (20) and tied for fourth in points (4) as she scored one goal, which came as a game-winner, and added two assists.
 
CoSIDA GOOGLE CLOUD ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT® CRITERIA
To be nominated, a student-athlete must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.30 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) at her current institution and must have participated in at least 50 percent of the team's games at the position listed on the nomination form (where applicable). No student-athlete is eligible until he/she has completed one full calendar year at his/her current institution and has reached sophomore athletic eligibility. District 5 includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio.