Nov. 1, 2005

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Showing they excel in the classroom as well as on the field, seven members of the Missouri women's soccer team received Academic All-Big 12 Conference honors, as announced by the conference today. Of the seven honorees, four are repeat selections.

Five Tigers, seniors Erica Pusch (Wildwood, Mo. / St. Joseph's Academy) and Kira Reyes (Columbia, Mo. / Rockbridge), juniors Lauren Grice (Columbia, Mo. / Hickman) and Meggie Malm (Des Moines, Iowa / Roosevelt) and sophomore Laura Buehrig (Needville, Texas / Needville) earned Academic All-Big 12 first team honors while senior Amber Swinehart (Littleton, Colo. / Arapahoe) and junior Aria Hudetz (Fort Collins, Colo. / Fort Collins) made the second team.

Pusch now has three consecutive first team selections while Grice and Malm earn first team accolades for the second-straight year. Hudetz also received Big 12 academic honors for the second consecutive year after earning a spot on the first team last season.

Nominated by each institution's director of student-athlete support services and the media relations offices, the soccer academic all-league squad consists of 72 first team members combined with 16 on the second team. First team members consist of those who have maintained a 3.20 or better GPA and the second team are those who have a 3.00 to 3.19 GPA.

To qualify student-athletes must maintain a 3.00 GPA or higher either cumulative or the two previous semesters and must have participated in 60 percent of her team's scheduled contests. Freshmen and transfers are not eligible in their first year of academic residence. Senior student-athletes who have participated for a minimum of two years and meet all the criteria except percent of participation are also eligible.

The eight-seeded Tigers face top-seeded Texas A&M in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament on Wednesday, Nov. 2 at 11:00 a.m. The winner of that game will face either Nebraska or Kansas on Friday, Nov. 4 at 4:30 p.m. in a game televised live on Fox Sports.