Cedarville Magazine, Winter 2016

Cedarville Magazine | 23 Ziegler Wins National Soccer Award The National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) honored Jacoby Ziegler ’16 of Cedarville University as the 2015 Michelle Akers Award winner. Ziegler was honored at the 2015NCCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Championship Kick-Of f Dinner in November. The award is named for Michelle Ak e r s , t h e f o rme r Women’s National Team player who led the U.S. to World Cup victories in 1991 and 1999 and an Olympic gold medal in 1996. No one has scored more goals in Cedarville University women’s soccer history than Ziegler. While recognized as one of the best players the Lady Jackets have ever had, she also demonstrates Christlike humility and never views herself as better or more important than her teammates. These qualities, magnified even more so off the field, are just some of the reasons why Ziegler is the 2015 recipient of the NCCAA’s Michelle Akers Award. A native of Wellington, Ohio, the 5-foot-2-inch forward is a Dean’s Honor List student as a nursing major. She became Cedarville’s first female College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-America First Team selection in any sport in 2013. She was named to the Academic All-America Second Team this fall. Ziegler has been a regular on the NCCAA Scholar-Athlete list. She has twice been named to the CoSIDA Academic A l l -D i s t r i c t Te am, the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Academic Team, and the Academic All-Ohio unit. On the field, Ziegler tallied 59 goals to rank No. 1 on the school’s all-time list. Coupled with 21 assists, her 139 total points is second among career leaders. The 2015 season was extra special for Ziegler. She tallied 19 goals and eight assists for 46 points to rank seventh nationally in NCAA Division II in both goals and points. Ziegler guided the Lady Jackets to a record of 13-5-4 and their first G-MAC Championship. That was significant in that Cedarville earned the league’s first-ever automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Jackets went 45-30-7 during Ziegler’s career. She earned multiple postseason honors, highlighted by being a two-time G-MAC Offensive Player of the Year, Daktronics NCAA Division II All- American, and G-MAC Female Athlete of the Year. Ziegler’s Christian character is just as noteworthy, providing a solid testimony of her walk with Christ. She spent three summers serving with On Goal soccer ministry, traveled on a team missions trip to Costa Rica, ran youth clinics at two local churches the past four years, and has been a discipleship leader. Head Coach John McGillivray ’70 remarked, “Jacoby is always looking for ways to serve others, whether it’s working child care at her church, helping do yard work for her elderly neighbors, or being Christ to the people she comes in contact with through her nursing rotations. She shares the love of God with others on a day-to-day basis.” A Soccer Player’s Prayer: Blog Excerpt Inspired by a few teammates on the importance of prayer, I decided to send out an email to a small group of us to partner withme in praying for our team in the summer and throughout the upcoming season. To sum it up, I wanted one thing: for our team to look like Jesus so that when people looked at us, we could point their eyes and hearts to Him. Personally, the season turned out to be more of a fight than I had expected. I missed more than two-thirds of it due to various injuries, a consequence of the hardware put in my leg the year before. I’d like to say I remained focused on my prayers for the team and went through the season as holy as a slice of Swiss cheese, but boy did I fail. Week after week, my injury prolonged, and every Monday I fell apart after having my hope of playing that week crushed yet again. I knew that I should be joyful, that soccer really was just soccer and that my hope, value, and purpose were in the relentless love of Jesus. Yet, there’s a difference between knowing and doing. It was at that point, sitting alone in a park, that I realized it didn’t matter how many times I told myself what I knew, the only way I was going to face my situation well was by the grace of God alone. To see the full story of how God answered the prayers of women’s soccer midfielder Susanna Mathew ’16, visit her blog at cedarville.edu/soccerprayer .