Jana Basubas

Classroom

Basubas has excelled in the classroom, posting a 3.4 GPA as a Sociology major while minoring in three separate areas too: Business, Ethics and Political Science. She has been named to the end-of-year Patriot League Academic Honor Roll on multiple occasions while making the Dean’s List in 2011 as well. Basubas earned the 2011 Arthur Ashe, Jr. Sport Scholar Award (as named by Diverse Issues in Higher Education) while also garnering the Class of 1904 Award. Basubas has earned the Faculty Athletics Council Academic Award every semester since freshman year.

Character

Basubas is looked up to by her teammates as evident by her being voted team captain for the upcoming fall season. She has a tireless work ethic: training and competing over 25 hours per week, all while holding a strong GPA and taking part in a number of extracurricular activities. Basubas is also a part of Lehigh’s Leadership Legacies Program where she participates in biweekly workshops to become a more effective team leader. While there, she studies conflict resolution, communication and group dynamics. Basubas is an Alumni Relations Board Committee Member as well. The committee’s goal is to educate fellow athletes about the importance of staying connected after graduation. Basubas also assisted in planning the Student-Athlete Senior Send Off and Thank You Campaign. She is currently on the Committee for the 40 Years Celebration of Women at Lehigh, which will take place this coming year. The committee is creating a tangible representation of the coeducation process at Lehigh and the 40th anniversary celebration, celebrating women who have contributed significantly to the university. In addition, every summer since she graduated from high school, Basubas has continued to train and be a part of her local cross country team. She was the first athlete that her cross country coach helped achieve a career in collegiate athletics, so has since become a mentor for some of the younger athletes. A handful of student-athletes have since gone on to compete in college cross country and track. Although she’s the only soccer player amongst the group, Basubas enjoys the mentoring process and helping prepare them for the next level.

Community

Basubas has taken an active role in a number of Lehigh community initiatives. She’s been a C.O.A.C.H. (Community Outreach by Athletes who Care about Helping) representative, a service program that operates in accord with the National Consortium for Academics and Sports to help (along with parents, teachers and coaches) middle and high school student-athletes and their peers, make informed choices regarding their education, drug and alcohol issues and other factors which may affect reaching their full potential. Basubas and other Lehigh student-athletes talk about substance abuse, time management, academic motivation and other concerns of younger students and student-athletes. The C.O.A.C.H. program does numerous presentations to student groups in settings ranging from team meetings to school assemblies to sports banquets. They also run sports clinics with an educational theme, group outings, Lehigh athletic events and more. One special event, which Basubas and the C.O.A.C.H. program have coordinated, is an annual Adopt-A-Family around the holidays. Basubas is currently planning a community service event for her team in the fall. In her career, the women’s soccer team has not participated in a community service project solely as a team, so this will be the first time. She is still in the planning stages for the actual event. Basubas has extensive volunteer experience as well. She has volunteered her time as a tutor at the Northampton County Jail, teaching inmates English and mathematics to prepare them for GED testing. She has also been a Lehigh camp counselor, coaching soccer to children ages 7-10.

Competition

Basubas has enjoyed a stellar collegiate career from day one leading into last season when she was named a First Team All-Patriot League honoree and led the Mountain Hawks to their first-ever Patriot League Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance. In its NCAA First Round game, Lehigh played neck-and-neck with #8 nationally ranked Virginia, holding the Cavaliers scoreless for the first 66:28. In the end, the Mountain Hawks’ best season in school history ended with a stellar 11-5-4 record and the program’s first-ever perfect season at home (7-0-0). When she came in as a freshman, the team struggled, going 6-10-1 and 2-5-0 in league play. Since, she has helped transform the program to where it was last year - a Patriot League Champion and NCAA Tournament participant. Basubas has been extremely reliable, starting all 17 games as a freshman, all 18 games as a sophomore and all 20 last year as a junior. A defensive midfielder, Basubas has made an impact at both ends of the field, posting a career-high nine points (four goals, one assist) in 2010. Basubas helped spearhead a 2011 Mountain Hawk defense which allowed only 21 goals in 20 games. To go along with her First Team All-Patriot League honor was a Defensive Player of the Week award on September 27. Basubas was also named Rookie of the Week in 2008.