The Big South conference announced Tuesday afternoon that Saleena Lynch has been named the 2022-23 Big South Woman of the Year, the fourth Highlander to ever win the award and second women’s soccer player in program history.
The Big South’s Woman of the Year Selection Committee voted Lynch and High Point’s Sarah Kahn the co-honorees among the seven candidates nominated for the award. The Committee used criteria of Service and Leadership (including community services, campus activities and leadership positions), Academic Achievement, Athletics Excellence and a Personal Statement from each candidate. As the Big South’s Woman of the Year, Lynch and Kahn are also nominated as the conference’s candidates for the national NCAA Woman of the Year Award.
Lynch was one of three recipients of the Big South’s Bob McCloskey Graduate Fellowship this past spring. She helped Radford capture the Big South Women’s Soccer Championship in 2022, as she played 18 matches with 17 starts, and totaled 1,357 minutes on the backline for the Highlanders.
Lynch was a Second Team All-Conference performer this past season, and was a Defensive Player of the Week selection. In her four years, she made 68 career appearances with 52 starts, tallied three assists from her defensive position while playing 4,533 career minutes, and was also part of Radford’s Women’s Soccer Championship team as a freshman in 2019. Lynch will pursue her Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology and Neuroscience from the University of North Carolina. She graduated with a 3.96 GPA as a Criminal Justice and Psychology major, was named to Radford’s Academic Excellence Dean’s List all four years, in addition to being a four-year member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars.
Off the field, Lynch participated in eight academic conferences and presentations, including the Southeastern Psychological Association, Psychology & Gender Research Symposium, Student Engagement Forum, and the University of Missouri Alcohol Research Presentation. She is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, has been awarded Academic Excellence Dean’s List honors all four years and was the recipient of the Wyatt Family Athletic Endowment.
Lynch also served Radford as a Resident Assistant, Academic Tutor, and a College of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences Elevated Research Mentor. She was Vice President of the Criminal Justice Club, participated in mental health and crisis training, and volunteered with the Special Olympics, Fear 2 Freedom Care Packaging and canned food drives.
Since the Big South began the Woman of the Year initiative after the 2005-06 season, four Highlanders have earned the award including Hope Creasy (2009-10), fellow women’s soccer stand out Jessica Wollmann (2018-19) and most recently Sydney Fisher (2020-21).
Lynch and Kahn are among a record-breaking 619 overall nominees for NCAA Woman of the Year, which is now in its 33rd year. Established in 1991, the NCAA Woman of the Year program has recognized graduating female student-athletes for excellence in academics, athletics, community service, and leadership throughout their college careers. This year’s nominees represent a diverse set of well-rounded student-athletes, with 24 different sports across all three NCAA divisions. Within the nomination pool, 264 nominees competed in Division I, and the average GPA of the entire nominee pool is 3.76.
The NCAA Woman of the Year Selection Committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will select the Top 30 honorees — 10 from each division — from the conference-level nominees. The Top 30 honorees will be announced in October. The selection committee will then determine the top three honorees in each division from the Top 30, and the nine finalists will be announced in November. From those nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics will choose the 2023 NCAA Woman of the Year. The honorees will be celebrated at the Woman of the Year Award Ceremony at the NCAA Convention in Phoenix in January.
The conference’s Woman of the Year award is sponsored by Big South Corporate Partner Musco Sports Lighting.
Radford University Athletics
