University of Richmond Athletics
Richmond's Jaclyn Raveia And Brooke Sands Named To All-America Teams
12/28/2000 | Women's Soccer
RICHMOND, Va. - University of Richmond senior back Jaclyn Raveia (Fairfax, Va./W.T. Woodson) has been named to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Division I Women's Soccer First Team All-America team. In addition, senior forward Brooke Sands (Dallas, Texas/Dallas Episcopal) was selected Third Team All-America.
Raveia is the first player in the five-year history of Richmond women's soccer to garner first-team accolades, she was an honorable mention All-America last season. She is also the only player from the Commonwealth of Virginia represented on the first-team squad. Raveia and Sands are the only Colonial Athletic Association players to appear on the teams.
Raveia, the 1999 and 2000 CAA Defender of the Year, became just the fifth player in conference women's soccer history to garner first-team honors for four consecutive years. Raveia was also a four-time first-team Mid-Atlantic Region All-American and was tabbed first-team All-State by the Virginia Sports Information Directors all four seasons as well. In addition to assuming playmaking duties during her senior season, she marshaled a Richmond defense that posted five shutout wins and outscored opponents 36-9 in its 13 victories on the campaign. She started all 83 matches of her Richmond career and contributed four goals, ten assists and 18 points. Her statistics notwithstanding, Raveia's leadership both on and off the field played a major role in Richmond's successes, according to Richmond head women's soccer coach Peter Albright.
"There is not a player in the country who meant more to their team than Jaclyn did to us this year," reflected Albright, the 2000 CAA Coach of the Year as well as the 2000 State Coach of the Year as voted upon by the Virginia Sports Information Directors. "The heart and soul of our team, Jaclyn played relentlessly and created opportunities for us upfield. Jaclyn closed more quickly, tackled better and was a better one-on-one player in the open field than any player I have ever coached."
Sands completed her Richmond career as the program's all-time leader in career matches played (84), shots (341), goals (51) points (124) and game-winning goals (14) while ranking second among the team's career assists (22) leaders. A first-team All-CAA selection, Sands delivered a team-leading 23 points on eight goals and seven assists on the campaign. She struck for three game-winning goals and registered two multi-goal matches on the season.
"Brooke enjoyed her most complete season this fall," noted Albright. "Even with her natural abilities, Brooke took on the responsibility of being a total team player as well as being our top scoring threat. Very few players in the country have the talent to make that happen, but she is a special player. Brooke was instrumental in every facet of our success over the past four years."
The 2000 campaign capped the Spiders most successful in the program's five-year history of women's soccer. Richmond posted a team-best 13-7-0 overall record, a 6-2-0 league mark and reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time. In opening round action, the Spiders posted a season-high five goals in a 5-1 romp over West Virginia at UR Soccer Complex.
