Kelly Culicerto

Classroom

Going into her senior year, Marshall University midfielder Kelly Culicerto holds a 3.77 GPA as a business management major. As a junior, Culicerto earned Conference USA’s highest academic honor by being named the 2014-15 Women’s Soccer Scholar Athlete of the Year. Determined by the league’s Faculty Athletics Representatives, the award is presented to the top student-athletes in each conference-sponsored sport. The awards are based on academic achievement (GPA), athletic achievement and service. Culicerto is a three-time member of the Conference USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll and earned the Conference USA Academic Medal as a freshman. She became the first Marshall women’s soccer player to be named an All-Academic selection and All-Conference USA First Team selection in the same season.

Character

Culicerto leads the team on the field as a high scorer and off the field as an academic achiever. A three-year starter, Culicerto is an integral part of the Herd midfield. “Kelly makes us better as a team through her tenacity,” Coach Kevin Long said. “She elevates our level of competition by working as hard as she can in everything she does. She doesn’t have an off-switch.” Long described her as a “true Daughter of Marshall. She embodies what it means to be a student-athlete.” The Culicerto family is well-represented in Thundering Herd history, as Kelly’s parents, older brother and sister are all former Marshall student-athletes and alumni. Culicerto was teammates with her older sister, Kristine, for the past three seasons. Last year, the “sister act” led the Herd with 17 points apiece. “I think a big part of Kelly’s work ethic was revealed through a rivalry with her sister. They both did the best they could and pushed themselves to the limit. We see the benefits of that on the field. Kelly is extremely demanding of herself. She holds herself accountable, and our players recognize that.”

Community

The Marshall women’s soccer program befriended a young man named Christian Walroth, a 24-year-old from nearby Hurricane, W.Va., who suffers from Spina Bifida, Hydrocephalus, Arnold Chiari malformation and scoliosis. Every player on the team finds time each week to visit Walroth at the hospital. When the team is on the road, they send photos and messages and talk to him on the phone. The Herd has dedicated its October 18th home match to celebrate Christian’s life and to share his inspiring story.

As an upperclassman, Culicerto has worked to set examples for the underclassmen with community outreach, including spending time with Christian (who is a huge soccer fan). “When the seniors, especially Kelly, buy into what we’re doing, it’s easier for the underclassmen to join in,” Coach Kevin Long said. “Kelly has shown our younger student-athletes what it means to be part of the Herd, and that includes a commitment to our community.”

When Culicerto is not training or working in the classroom, she is involved in the Huntington area as a babysitter. Her family is well-known in the local area, and she spends a lot of time with them in a community setting. Culicerto has worked with local events such as the Color Run, as well as soccer camps and clinics.

Competition

Culicerto became Marshall’s first women’s soccer player to earn All-Conference USA First Team honors as a junior in 2014. She was named to the 2014 National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) All-Central Region Second Team, leading the Herd with eight goals and 17 points. She topped Conference USA in 2014 with five game-winning goals and scored twice in three different matches. The Herd went 5-0-0 when she found the net and reached the Conference USA Tournament for the second consecutive season—a first for the program. She has appeared in every match of her career, logging 5,220 minutes on the pitch, and has not left the starting lineup since her freshman season. She ranks in the top 10 in multiple Marshall record lists, including career goals (ninth, 12), career game-winning goals (third, six), multiple-goal matches (third, three), career points (10th, 27) and career shots (second, 152). Culicerto was recently named to the 2015 Preseason All-Conference USA Team.