At some schools, the term "student-athlete" is an oxymoron. But Suzanne Eastman '99, an All-American soccer player who yesterday was named to the GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-America Team, reaffirmed its validity at Dartmouth.
Eastman was one of 16 athletes on the first team, comprised of women in fall and winter NCAA sports other than volleyball and basketball.
She is Dartmouth's 16th Academic All-American, and the only Ivy Leaguer on this year's first team.
Eastman, the two-time All-Ivy defender who joined teammate Kristin Luckenbill '01 on the All-America team this year, helped the women's soccer team to its first Ivy League title in six years and to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament this past fall.
Eastman, the Environmental Studies major from Brightwaters, NY, owns a 3.64 GPA.
"She's basically an all-around leader -- the heart of our team," Luckenbill said. "She's a really, intense, hard-working person."
Led by Eastman, the defense guided the Big Green to a 16-2-2 mark this season, including 12 shutouts.
Dartmouth won its first two games in the NCAA Tournament before falling to the Tar Heels of North Carolina, the eventual second-place finishers.
She always knew what to do with the ball. She really knew how to motivate," Jamie Lang '02 said. "She was great to have as a captain my freshman year."
Eastman was one of four finalists for the NCAA's Honda Award for women's soccer. She alsoplayed in the Umbro Select All-Star Classic in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. On the Divisions I College All-Star Team.
"She's probably the best stopper I've played with," Lang said.
After graduation, Eastman will continue to be invlolved with women's college soccer. She will will join women's soccer staff at Stanford Unviersity under former Dartmouth coach Steve Swanson.
"I'm psyched for her," Luckebill said. "I think she'll have a great time."
The Academic All-Ivy award, given jointly by GTE and the College Sports Information Directors of America, is given separately to athletes in football, men's and women's basketball, women's volleyball, baseball and softball as well as at large sports, which are other teams separated by gender.
The at-large Academic All-America team for fall/winter 1998-99 consists of six soccer players, five swimmers, four cross-country runners and a gymnast. Emily Stauffer, a soccer star from Harvard, earned second team honors while Catharine Zuckerman, a fencer from Yale, made the third team.
Eastman is the second Big Green athlete to garner such an honor in the at-large category. Cross-country standout Kristin Cobb '95 was a first-team selection to this same squad during her senior year.
