Blanford Collects Capital One Academic All-District Honors

AURORA, N.Y. – For the second year in a row, senior captain Shannon Blanford (Fayetteville, N.Y.) of the Wells College women's soccer team has earned Capital One Academic All-District® First Team honors for her academic and athletic prowess in 2014, the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced late Thursday afternoon. Blanford was the first-ever recipient from Wells College to earn the honor last season.

Selected by the members of CoSIDA, the All-District Women's Soccer teams have been released to recognize the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances athletically and in the classroom. Blanford and the other First Team Academic All-District honorees will now advance to the Capital One Academic All-America® Team ballot, where first, second and third team All-America honorees will be tabbed later in the month.

Blanford, a Biology major, earned North Eastern Athletic Conference Third Team honors after a remarkable performance in her senior season. A key cog in the Wells midfield in 2014, Blanford and the Express posted 81 total points of offense, the most dating back to the 2012 season. She struck for one goal and four assists for six points and contributed greatly to one of the most improved Wells defenses in recent memory. Wells' team goals-against average of 2.78 was the lowest in nearly three seasons.

Academically, Blanford sports a 3.95 grade-point average during her tenure at Wells. A three-time winner of North Eastern Athletic Conference Scholar-Athlete honors, she has earned Dean's List recognition throughout her academic career in Aurora. A Henry Wells Scholarship recipient, Blanford was a member of the National Honor Society in high school and drew High Honors at Fayetteville-Manlius High School before graduating in 2011.

For her career, Blanford tied the all-time program record for games played (72) and has tallied the second-most career points of any Wells player in the modern era, dating back to 1986. She has scored 30 goals and tallied 21 assists for 81 points (30-21=81). As a freshman in 2011, she scored 14 goals and tallied 10 assists for 38 points (14-10=38) and concluded season ranked 43rd in the country in points per game (2.11) and 49th amongst all Division III athletes with 38 total points on the season.

Selected as a midfielder, Blanford joins other District 3 players from schools such as the Rochester Institute of Technology, Mount Saint Mary, Rochester (N.Y.), New York University, William Smith and Clarkson.

A comprehensive list of Academic All-District award winners can be found here.