Lauren Costa

Classroom

Costa has a 3.71 GPA entering her senior year as an accounting major. She is a three-time Academic All-Big Sky Conference selection and has won a pair of academic scholarships through the University of Montana’s School of Business Administration: the Junkermier, Clark, Campanella, Stevens P.C. CPA Scholarship and the David and Goldie Enger School of Business Administration Athletic Scholarship. She has also received Department of Athletics scholarships following her freshman, sophomore and junior years: the Ronald E. and Julia Blake Memorial Scholarship (2010-11), the Grizzly Scholarship Association License Plate Scholarship (2011-12) and the Frank W. Milburn Scholarship (2012-13). Costa is on schedule to graduate in May 2013.

Character

“A maxim you often hear about character is that it can be described as what you do and how you are when nobody’s watching,” UM coach Mark Plakorus says when asked about Costa, the Grizzlies’ team captain as a junior and senior. “Lauren is the type of person that what you see is what you get at all times, and that’s reassuring as a coach. She is always doing the right thing. I never have to worry about her. I couldn’t ask for a better leader. She’s invested in the program and committed to helping her teammates be successful, so everyone on the team looks up to her. She’s the type of person you want all your players to be like, whether it’s in training, in the classroom or out in the community. She’s an outstanding representative of our program and our university.”

Community

Costa and her teammates spent a day working on a building project for Habitat for Humanity during her freshman and sophomore seasons. The last two years Costa has been one of the lead volunteers for the Griz soccer team’s aid station at the popular Missoula Marathon. She also has experience volunteering at the local YMCA at its annual Winter Sports Camp.

Competition

Costa has been voted by her teammates as the team’s Defensive Player of the Year each of her first three seasons at Montana. She earned second-team All-Big Sky Conference honors as a freshman and first-team accolades as a junior last fall when she played all 2,097 minutes of the season and led the Grizzlies to the NCAA tournament. She has played in 55 of 58 matches during her first three seasons at UM, and despite being the team’s center back, she has compiled one career goal and two assists.At last November’s Big Sky Conference tournament, Costa converted the winning kick in both semifinal and championship match shootouts to send the Grizzlies to their first NCAA tournament since 2000.