KANSAS CITY, Mo. — United Soccer Coaches announced the association's 2021 Women's Scholar All-America Teams with Penn State women's soccer captains Sam Coffey and Kerry Abello earning recognition on Thursday.
Sam Coffey was named first team Scholar All-America after being named to the second team Scholar All-America in 2019. Kerry Abello was named second team Scholar All-America for the first time in her career.
In program history, the Nittany Lions have earned 24 Scholar All-American honors, including 16 first team accolades.
This season both senior captains helped lead Penn State to the program's 27th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and its fifth consecutive Sweet-16 appearance while bringing in numerous individual accolades.
Abello was named the CoSIDA Women's Soccer Academic All-American of the Year for the second season in a row and to CoSIDA's Academic All-America first team list. It marked her fourth Academic All-America recognition, earning first team accolades in 2019 & 2020-21 and second team honors in 2018.
From Batavia, Ill., Abello possessed a 4.0 cumulative grade-point average with a double undergraduate major in science and Spanish. She is currently in graduate school for biomedical engineering.
Abello has appeared in 92 games for Penn State in her career with 70 starts. In her career she has scored 17 goals and 10 assists. She was a member of three Big Ten Championship teams and won two Big Ten Tournament Championships.
Coffey was also selected to the CoSIDA Academic All-America first team back-to-back first team recognition after being named an Academic All-American in 2020-21.
From Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., Coffey earned her degree in journalism in fall 2020 and embarked on her graduate degree. A two time first-team All-American, Coffey has played 102 games in her career with 101 starts. In her career she has 42 goals and 54 assists. Additionally, she was a member of the 2020-21 Big Ten regular season championship team and the 2019 Big Ten Tournament Championship team.
Student-athletes on this year's Scholar All-America Teams will be formally acknowledged for their accomplishments on the field and in the classroom at the United Soccer Coaches All-America Ceremony & Reception on Saturday, Jan. 22, 2022 at the Kansas City Convention Center in conjunction with the United Soccer Coaches Convention.
