Buzzards Bay, Mass. --  The Massachusetts Maritime women’s soccer team was one of 19 Division III squads nationally to receive a Gold Ethics Award from the National Soccer Coaches of America earlier today after completing the entire 2013 season without receiving either a yellow or red card in competition.  The honor is the second straight for the Buccaneers, who were the only MASCAC program recognized this year. 

The NSCAA recognized a total of 258 programs (both men’s and women’s) at all levels of play with their respective Gold, Silver or Bronze version of the Team Ethics Award, which recognizes teams that exhibit fair play, sporting behavior and adherence to the laws of the game as reflected by the numbers of yellow caution cards or red ejection cards they are shown by referees throughout the season.

Head Coach Ray Cabral’s Buccaneers were joined by Anderson (Ind.), Baptist Bible (Pa.), Bryn Mawr, Colby, Crown (Minn.), Frostburg State, Grove City, Houghton (N.Y.), Husson, Mount Holyoke, Muskingum, Oberlin, Rochester Institute of Technology, Smith, SUNY-Geneseo, SUNY-Potsdam, Wartburg and Wheelock in earning Gold Ethics Awards for their performances this past fall.

“Our student-athletes are recognized for their leadership, poise and prowess both on and off the field, and I want to congratulate Coach Cabral and our women’s soccer team for this great achievement,” Massachusetts Maritime Director of Athletics Bob Corradi says of the NSCAA honor.  “Sportsmanship is something that our student-athletes take great pride in displaying and emulating, and in turn that pride is shared throughout the entire Academy community.”

Massachusetts Maritime has ranked among the national leaders in Division III in fewest fouls committed and cards received in its six-year varsity history.  Cabral guided the Buccaneers to their highest single-season win total this past fall with four triumphs and three ties in 15 matches, and 3/c Katie Levesque (Wilmot, N.H./Kearsarge Regional) earned first team all-MASCAC and second team all-NSCAA New England Regional accolades for her performance in goal.