Tech Soccer wins third straight OVC Team Sportsmanship Award
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – After a tremendous season where the Tennessee Tech women's soccer team won both the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season championship for the fourth-straight season and the conference tournament crown to reach the NCAA field for the first time since 2000, the Golden Eagles added another accolade to their mantle on Tuesday, as the OVC announced that Tech was the recipient of the 2025-26 Team Sportsmanship Award for women's soccer. Voted on by the student-athletes and coaches of the respective sports, the team awards are bestowed upon the Conference squads deemed to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as outlined by the OVC and NCAA. Included in the areas for evaluation are the conduct of student-athletes, coaches, staff, administrators and fans.
By TTU Athletics Media Relations and OVC Media Relations
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – After a tremendous season where the Tennessee Tech women's soccer team won both the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season championship for the fourth-straight season and the conference tournament crown to reach the NCAA field for the first time since 2000, the Golden Eagles added another accolade to their mantle on Tuesday, as the OVC announced that Tech was the recipient of the 2025-26 Team Sportsmanship Award for women's soccer.
Voted on by the student-athletes and coaches of the respective sports, the team awards are bestowed upon the Conference squads deemed to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as outlined by the OVC and NCAA. Included in the areas for evaluation are the conduct of student-athletes, coaches, staff, administrators and fans.
The 2025-26 school year marks the 21st year the team sportsmanship honors have been awarded.
This marks the third-straight year and fourth time in five years that the Golden Eagles have earned the award. Overall, it is the fifth time the program has earned the award -- the Tech program also won in 2009.
The Golden Eagles earned their first appearance in the NCAA tournament since 2000 with the thrilling 2-0 victory over Lindenwood in the OVC tournament championship. Despite a 2-0 loss to Vanderbilt in the opening round, the Golden Eagles played the Commodores to a scoreless tie at the midpoint, putting together one of their strongest showings in the season. Tech finished 7-7-8 overall, going undefeated in league play with a 6-0-3 mark.
Tech earned 10 OVC honors as Lucia Cuadra was named the Ohio Valley Conference Midfielder of the Year, while Claire Palya was recognized as the OVC Defender of the Year and Corey Boyd as the conference's Coach of the Year. Cuadra and Palya joined Katie Toney and Allison Lee on the All-OVC first team, while Maggie Conrad and Natalie Howard secured spots on the second team. Eva Baker rounded out Tech's spoils with a place on the OVC All-Newcomer team.
Implemented in August 2005, the team honors are the most recent addition to an awards program that recognizes and celebrates sportsmanship within the Conference. In 1998, the league established the Steve Hamilton Sportsmanship Award, presented annually to a male or female student-athlete of junior or senior status who best exemplifies the characteristics of the late Morehead State student-athlete, coach and administrator. Five years later, the Conference added the OVC Sportsmanship Award, presented annually to the member institution selected by its peers to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as outlined by the OVC and NCAA.
In 1995, the Ohio Valley Conference implemented a first-of-its-kind "Sportsmanship Statement," a policy promoting principles of fair play, ethical conduct and respect for one's opponent. The statement answered the challenge of the NCAA Presidents Commission to improve sportsmanship in collegiate athletics, and has become a model for others to follow across the nation.
Photo | Thomas Corhern, TTU Athletics Media Relations
