TORONTO — Canadian international Kadeisha Buchanan has been named the 2016-17 Big 12 Female Athlete of the Year.
The 21-year-old centre back from Brampton, Ont., is the first West Virginia University student-athlete to earn the conference honour since the school joined the Big 12 in 2012.
"It's only fitting that Kadeisha Buchanan is the first WVU student-athlete to win the Big 12 Athlete of the Year award," Mountaineer women's soccer coach Nikki Izzo-Brown said in a statement.
"She took our standard of excellence to a whole new level, and I am so proud of everything she did for our program, the university and this athletic department during her four-year career. Kadeisha put in a lot of hard work to earn this honour."
Nominees are submitted by Big 12 institutions and selected, based on athletic performance, academic achievement and citizenship, by a media panel as well as fan voting conducted through Big12Sports.com.
Buchanan also won the 2016 Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy, was the Mountaineers' first four-time NSCAA All-American and was named the 2016 espnW and TopDrawerSoccer.com National Player of the Year.
A two-time team captain, Buchanan helped West Virginia post a NCAA- and program-best 18 shutouts in 2016 and allowed just 12 opponent goals en route to a runner-up finish at the 2016 NCAA College Cup, where she was named the tournament defensive MVP.
Buchanan started 90 of 91 career matches for the Mountaineers.
She currently plays for Olympique Lyonnais in France.
The Canadian Press
