Although her career on the field is over, senior Alyssa Heintschel continues to make history as a member of Ball State soccer with her academic accolades.

Thursday, the Oregon, Ohio, native was named a first-team Academic All-American, making her the second Ball State soccer player to ever receive those honors, joining Skylar Chew’s 2012 selection. After earning this honor, Heintschel became the first Cardinal soccer player to ever be named an Academic All-American multiple times.

“My plan is medical school hopefully in the next year so it’s kind of keeping that in perspective,” Heintschel said in an interview in October. “It’s like how important is it to me that I stay on top of my grades and keep a good GPA and all that stuff so that I can give myself the best chance to get into med school and take the next step in my goal for my career.”

The three-time captain makes academic success a priority, as reflected by her 4.0 GPA as a chemistry, pre-med major.

Heintschel’s on and off the field success earned her one of the five spots on the Senior CLASS Award First Team, an honor that recognizes excellence in the areas of community, classroom, character and competition. To complement that recognition she finished her senior season leading the Mid-American Conference with a 0.70 goals against average while saving 85.5 percent of the shots that came her way.

The two-time All-Mac First Team selection helped the Cardinals win the MAC West Division for a third consecutive season in 2017, a feat which had never been done before.

By the end of her soccer career, the three-time captain made sure her name decorated the Ball State soccer goalkeeping record books.

Contact Nate Fields with comments at nefields@bsu.edu.

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