Article by: Dan Ryan

Even though the season ended a few months back, Ernst Cleophat’s Lady Rams soccer team received a positive accolade earlier this month for their play as a team over the course of the year. The team was given the Silver Award by the National Soccer Coaches’ Association of America, an honor given to just 45 schools nationwide.

To earn the Silver Award, a team could earn no more than five yellow cards over the course of the season, and could receive no red cards. The official name of the recognition is the NSCAA Team Ethics Silver Award. According to the NSCAA’s website, the award “recognizes teams that exhibit fair play, sporting behavior and adherence to the Laws of the Game, as reflected by the number of yellow caution cards or red ejection cards they are shown by referees throughout the season.”

Nine schools received the Gold Award, which meant the team received no disciplinary cards whatsoever over the course of the entire season, no small feat. 14 other schools received the Bronze Award (a maximum of ten yellow cards, zero red cards) to bring the total number of schools honored to 69. Springfield College and the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts were the only other schools in the state to receive any such recognition, as Springfield received the Gold Award and MCLA received the same Silver Award as the Lady Rams.

According to the Suffolk Athletics Department, this is the second straight year that the Lady Rams have received the award, and they are the lone recipient from the GNAC. In fact, sportsmanship recognitions are nothing new to the team: sophomore Leslie Hayden has been selected to the GNAC’s All-Sportsmanship in each of the past two seasons.