« Women’s Soccer 2014

Kate Schwindel

School
West Virginia University
Position
Forward
Major
Child Development and Family Studies

Classroom

Schwindel is a two-time member of the Academic All-Big 12 Soccer Team. She also is a member of the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll and WVU’s Garrett Ford Academic Honor Roll. Schwindel owns a 3.01 GPA in child development and family studies and is expected to graduate in four years. As part of her studies, she works with students at local schools.

Character

Schwindel leads WVU women’s soccer by example. A natural goal-scorer, she self-motivates to get herself in the best shape to play on the field. Schwindel went down with a season-ending injury on Oct. 27, 2013. Her teammates competed in her honor at the 2013 Big 12 Soccer Tournament and won the title. Schwindel pushed herself throughout the offseason to get healthy and is ready to join her teammates back on the field as a senior.

Community

Schwindel participates in many community service activities with the Mountaineers. In three years at WVU, she has helped the program raise money for breast cancer research through personal and team fund-raising projects. Additionally, she has worked the WVU 4v4 Small-Sided Breast Cancer Tournament and WVU Soccer Camps for three years. She participates in the WVU Relay for Life and makes annual visits to the WVU Children’s Hospital. As she hopes to work with young students, she also enjoys visiting local elementary schools and meeting young Mountaineer fans.

Competition

Schwindel is a two-time NSCAA/Continental Tire All-Central Region Second Team honoree. Additionally, she is a two-time All-Big 12 First Team honoree and was named to the All-Big East Second Team and All-Rookie Team in 2011. She has led the Mountaineers to five conference titles in three seasons, including back-to-back Big 12 regular-season titles. WVU has appeared in the NCAA Tournament each of Schwindel’s three seasons.

Schwindel is WVU’s top returning point earner, as she tallied a career-best 28 points in 18 matches in 2013 before going down with a season-ending injury; her 28 points ranked No. 3 in the Big 12. She scored 11 goals last year, a personal-best season total and the fourth-best mark in the Big 12. Her six assists ranked No. 4 in the conference, and her three game-winners ranked No. 4. She is No. 8 in WVU history with 21 career assists, No. 9 with 73 career points and No. 10 with 26 career goals and 216 career shots. She has started 59 of 60 career games.

In 2013, Schwindel was twice named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week. She also was named to two TopDrawerSoccer.com Teams of the Week and earned one TopDrawerSoccer.com Player of the Week honor. She was named to the Duke Nike Classic All-Tournament Team. Additionally, she scored the golden goal in the 101st minute in a 2-1 double-overtime win at Oklahoma that clinched WVU’s second straight Big 12 regular-season title.