Shauna Stapleton, Entomology Senior, will receive the 2008 Varsity Walk Award

By Purdue Sports
April 9, 2008

Shauna Stapleton produced one of the best all-around seasons in the history of Purdue soccer on and off the field in 2007.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue Reamer Club announced Tuesday that Shauna Stapleton will receive this year's Varsity Walk Award, which is presented each spring to the outstanding senior who has participated as a varsity athlete and brought national recognition to Purdue.

Stapleton is the first soccer player to receive this prestigious honor since Paul Coward became its fourth recipient in 1959. Her name will be engraved on the Varsity Walk Award Tower and listed alongside the likes of Pro Football Hall of Famer Bob Griese, track and field Olympian Larry Burton, and countless All-Americans such as Rick Mount, Drew Brees and Katie Douglas.

The award tower stands at the northwest corner of the Materials and Electrical Engineering buildings.

A native of Springfield, Ohio, Stapleton produced one of the best all-around seasons in the history of Purdue soccer on and off the field.

Stapleton recorded 10 goals and 11 assists and received distinguished titles throughout the 2007 season at the conference and national level. She was selected as the NSCAA's Player of the Week last September after scoring three goals in victories over Washington and former-No. 1 Portland, and was later tabbed to the All-Big Ten first team.

Stapleton was voted Offensive MVP of the Big Ten Tournament, where she registered a goal and three assists through wins over Northwestern, Illinois and Ohio State. Her work at midfield enabled Purdue to claim its first conference tournament title.

Stapleton's career numbers include 44 point on 15 goals and 14 assists, and she holds the varsity record for matches played at 87. Stapleton's three career multiple-assist games are tied for the most in program history with Annette Kent, Kim Comisar and Lauren Sesselmann.

An entomology major, Stapleton's academic work was lauded as she became the first Purdue soccer player to earn Academic All-America first team status. Only 11 student-athletes from across the country were named to the first team, and Stapleton was just one of three midfielders voted to this select group by members of CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America).

Stapleton has been named to the Dean's List on six occasions, and was selected Entomology Student of the Year in 2005 and 2006. She was inducted into the Mortar Board National Honor Society in 2007.

Notes From The Pitch: Purdue is working on its offensive combinations this week in practice after spending a bulk of the Spring Semester fine tuning its team defense. The Boilermakers are primarily focusing on ball movement patterns, which head coach Rob Klatte hopes will pose problems for future defenders.

"I want our players to play the ball quicker and learn to rotate it around the field with some sophistication," he said. "We also need to be able to anticipate the motions of our teammates in order to get the ball to them without interruption."

Klatte wants his players to manipulate the motion of the ball similar to a golf or billiards player. He said there are moments in each match when there needs to be a little back spin placed on a shot, or a slight bend on a pass that will hook right into a teammates' run. The overall goal is to develop better passing accuracy, which will lead to a higher percentage of open looks.

There are only a two weeks left in the spring season and Purdue will play its final exhibition Sunday at West Virginia, starting at noon EDT.

The Mountaineers are continually listed among the best teams in the nation and finished the 2007 campaign ranked seventh after posting an 18-5-2 win-loss record. West Virginia also won the Big East Championship and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.

WVU began its spring with a 4-0 loss at Penn State, but defeated several Czech Republic and Italian clubs during a 10-day spring break tour of Europe. Upon their return stateside, the Mountaineers thrashed James Madison University, 4-1.

Klatte knows his team will have a tough time in Morgantown, but the whole point of this demanding spring schedule was to force the Boilermakers into always playing at their best.

"West Virginia is a good side and (WVU head coach) Nikki (Izzo-Brown) always brings in a technically talented and athletic squad," he said. "Their defense also does a very good job and up top they're very hard working and mobile similar to what we recently saw against Texas A&M. We have to improve on restricting space and receiving better ball movement if we want to get a result."

Purdue's final week of practice begins April 13th. The team will hold its annual awards banquet on Friday, April 18 and play against its alumnae on Saturday afternoon.