EAST STROUDSBURG - East Stroudsburg University sophomore midfielder Nicole Abbott has been named the PSAC "Champion Scholar" for the 2017 PSAC Women's Soccer Championships as the student-athlete with the highest grade-point average at the championship site, announced Thursday.

Abbott (Conshohocken, Pa./Plymouth Whitemarsh), a Special Education and Early Childhood Education major, has a 4.0 GPA through 79 credits at ESU. Abbott is a junior academically and sophomore athletically, missing the 2015 season due to injury.

Abbott has appeared in 17 of ESU's 19 games and has started the last five contests for the Warriors (13-3-3), the three-time defending PSAC champion, entering Thursday's PSAC semifinal vs. Kutztown.

She has four goals and two assists, including two goals and an assist in her five starts. She scored the game's only goal in ESU's 1-0 win vs. Kutztown on October 18 in her first career start, and assisted on the game-winner in Tuesday's 2-1 win vs. Slippery Rock in the PSAC quarterfinals.

Abbott played in six games in her first season on the field last fall before assuming a larger role this season.

She is ESU's second straight women's soccer student-athlete to be named PSAC "Champion Scholar", following Andrea Polanco in 2016.

Abbott is ESU's 10th recipient of the award, which was introduced in 2011-12 and follows the NCAA's "Elite 90" model of recognizing the student-athlete with the top GPA at the championship site.

ESU's PSAC "Champion Scholars"
2011-12 - Lisa Lower, women's cross country
2012-13 - Tony Vorndran, wrestling
2013-14 - Joseph Hoy, wrestling
2014-15 - Dan Ingulli, wrestling
                Alex Zubko, men's outdoor track & field
2015-16 - Danielle Swingle, women's outdoor track & field
2016-17 - Sydney McCarthy, field hockey
            Andrea Polanco, women's soccer
            Jeremy Rigotti, men's outdoor track & field
2017-18 - Nicole Abbott, women's soccer