UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State women's soccer alumna Kerry Abello has been nominated for the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year Award.
Established in 1991, the award recognizes female student-athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in their community, in athletics and in academics throughout their college careers.
Abello graduated from Penn State and the Schreyer Honors College last fall with a perfect 4.0 grade point average and dual degrees in science and Spanish.
From 2019 to 2021, Abello served as a research assistant in the Pritchard Lab, a biomedical engineering lab at Penn State. She was trained in this research lab and conducted her own experiments concerning cancer cell research.
She became the first women's player to earn four Academic All-America honors and is the second in the PSU women's soccer program's history to earn three first-team Academic All-America accolades.
In 2021, Abello also became the third Nittany Lion named CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year in back-to-back years.
A five-year letter-winner and two-time captain for Penn State, Abello has been a member of two Big Ten Championship teams and two Big Ten Tournament Championship teams.
Abello appeared in 92 games for Penn State in her career with 70 starts, 17 goals and 10 assists.
The Batavia, Ill. native is a three-time All-Big Ten honoree. She is also a three-time All-North Region honoree and took home first team designation in her final collegiate season.
Her time at Penn State also saw her receive the Big Ten Medal of Honor, Big Ten Sportsmanship Award and Senior CLASS Award All-American honors.
From 2018-20, Abello served as a member of the Student Athlete Advisory Board (SAAB) THON committee. In her role she was responsible for organizing fundraising events, sending letters to alumni and leading parts of biweekly committee meetings.
In 2020, she was selected as a dancer for THON, which is a year-long fundraising and awareness campaign in the fight against childhood cancer that culminates in a 46-hour, no-sitting, no-sleeping dance marathon. Abello personally raised over $3,000 towards the cause.
In 2018, Abello went on a week-long service trip to Nicaragua through the organization Soccer without Borders. While there, she interacted and played soccer with the girls ages 4-18, along with leading various sessions for coaches to develop their coaching philosophies and session planning.
Following her successful academic and athletic career at Penn State, Abello now plays professionally for the National Women's Soccer League's, Orlando Pride. Following her retirement from soccer, Abello plans to attend medical school to become an orthopedic surgeon.
2022 marks the 32nd year of the NCAA Woman of the Year Award program. There are over 577 nominees from member schools including 248 from Division I.
Each year, NCAA member schools are encouraged to celebrate their top graduating female student-athletes by nominating them for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award. Up to two female student-athletes can be recognized from each school if at least one of them is an international student-athlete or student-athlete of color.
The conference offices will select up to two student-athletes from their member school nominations. Conference nominees will be announced in mid-August. The Woman of the Year Selection Committee will then select 10 student-athletes from each division, determining the Top 30 honorees.
Of the Top 30, the Woman of the Year Selection Committee will announce nine finalists, three from each NCAA division. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will review the finalists and name the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year.
For the first time in the award's history, the Top 30 honorees will be celebrated and the Woman of the Year will be named at the NCAA Convention. The 2023 Convention will take place in January in San Antonio.