Pace, Thomas collect more accolades for Charlotte 49ers
Recent Charlotte graduates Haley Pace and Martha Thomas, remarkable student-athletes for the 49ers’ softball and women’s soccer teams, respectively, have been named Conference USA Scholar Athlete Award winners for their sports. Pace is a repeat honoree.
The C-USA Scholar Athlete of the Year Awards are presented to the top student-athletes in each conference-sponsored sport, determined by a vote of the league’s 14 faculty athletic representatives. The award is based on academic achievement (GPA), athletic achievement and service.
Pace, from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is a back-to-back honoree of the Conference USA Scholar Athlete Award for softball.
“Haley has set the bar for 49ers softball,” said head softball coach Aimee DeVos.
Pace had a record-breaking career for the 49ers. She started every game during her four years and set Charlotte standards for batting average, slugging percentage, hits, RBI and home runs. She was a two-time National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-Mideast Region selection as well as a three-time College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-American, including first team honors in each of the last two years.
She graduated from the University with a perfect 4.0 GPA and was the recipient of the 2018 Provost Student-Athlete Award and a post-graduate scholarship from the accounting department.
Thomas, a Weston, Florida, native picked up the C-USA Scholar Athlete Award for women’s soccer.
“It is wonderful news to see Martha was named as the honoree for the C-USA Scholar Athlete Award for women’s soccer,” said head women’s soccer coach John Cullen. “I know I speak on behalf of our entire 49ers coaching staff and her former teammates when I say Martha was an outstanding representative of our women’s soccer program, the athletic department and our University.”
Thomas completed her Charlotte women’s soccer career as the program’s all-time leader in goals, points, shots and game-winning goals. She was voted to the Senior CLASS Award All-America First Team and tabbed to the United Soccer Coaches All-Central Region Second team on the national scale, while becoming one of three players in school history to receive Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year recognitions multiple times, after being named the recipient as a junior and senior.
Off the field, she was named to the United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-America Third Team and was a member of the All-Conference USA Academic First team for the third-straight season.