By Trent Shadid
Stasia Mallin completed her decorated career as a Memphis student-athlete with one final accolade —Top 30 NCAA Woman of the Year nominee.
The former Tiger women’s soccer team captain was announced as a nominee last September. For her, the honor was especially meaningful.
“When I was younger, my family used to host the Top 30 honorees when they would come to Indianapolis for the annual NCAA Woman of the Year banquet,” said Mallin, who grew up in Carmel, Ind., 20 miles north of NCAA headquarters. “Little did I know that would be me one day. I'm so grateful for and humbled by this honor.”
The NCAA Woman of the Year has been presented annually since 1991. Rooted in Title IX, the award honors the academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service and leadership of graduating female college athletes.
Mallin was selected from a record 605 nominees and was one of 10 Top 30 candidates
from the NCAA Division I level along with 10 each from Division II and III.
She is the second UofM student-athlete, along with track and field standout and 2017 graduate Chardae Greenlee, and first AAC women’s soccer player to receive Top 30 recognition.
“What a great accomplishment for Stasia, and we couldn't be prouder of her in adding this achievement to her career accolades,” said Memphis women’s soccer head coach Brooks Monaghan. “She meant so much to our program and was the epitome of what a teammate should be on the field, in the classroom and in the community over her four years.”
During her time at Memphis, Mallin became one of the most accomplished players in program history. She started in 65 of her 73 career matches played as the Tigers compiled a 59-14-9 record, won the American Athletic Conference Tournament in 2018 and regular-season championship in 2019 and appeared in the NCAA Tournament three times during her four years as a letterwinner.
A defender, Mallin finished her career as the AAC's career assist leader with 29.
Her 14 assists as a senior in 2019 are the second-most in a single-season at Memphis,
and she also anchored a defense that held 12 of 21 opponents scoreless. That season,
she was named an All-American, All-South Region and First-Team All-AAC selection,
as well as a semifinalist for the Hermann Trophy, presented annually to the top collegiate
player in the country.
In the spring of 2020, Mallin signed a contract to continue her soccer career with BIIK Kazygurt of the Kazakhstani Championship.
“Being able to play soccer at the highest possible level while also pursuing a degree was the most rewarding experience I've ever had,” Mallin said. “It wasn't always easy, but the lessons I learned on how to be a better teammate and leader will help me for years down the road in my future career.”
Mallin was equally as impressive in the classroom as she was on the field. She posted
a 3.98 grad-point average as a biomedical engineering major and served as a member
of the Alpha Eta Mu Beta national biomedical engineering honors society, the Tau Beta
Pi engineering honors society and the Alpha Epsilon Delta health professional honors
society. She was also as an undergraduate research assistant in the University’s biomedical
engineering department.
A three-time Academic All-American, she remained on the Dean’s List and Honor Roll through all eight of her academic semesters at the UofM while also being named to the AAC All-Academic Team all four years.
As an active member of the local community, Mallin volunteered at the Target House for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the FedExFamilyHouse for Le Bonheur Children's Hospital. Both serve as extended-stay options for out-of-town families coming to each hospital.
During the virtual 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year award show, Mallin was recognized along with all the Top 30 honorees before the award was officially presented to University of Kentucky swimmer Asia Seidt.
Mallin left Memphis with plenty of other hardware as well. The AAC recognized her as the recipient of the Commissioner’s Postgraduate Leadership Award and the 2020 Women’s Soccer Scholar-Athlete of the Year. She was also the UofM’s 2020 Elma Roane Award recipient, honoring a female student-athlete with drive, enthusiasm and determination while maintaining a concern for others.
Dear Soccer,
By Stasia Mallin
First, as the daughter of a former figure skater, I want to thank you for allowing me to get out of frilly dresses and tights at a young age and into grass-stained jerseys and muddy cleats. I will never be able to repay you.
Even when my mom brought me to my first practice, she never thought I would stick with you. However, the opportunity to play you with my friends was the reason I started and why I have stuck with you for so many years.
I’m not going to lie, you knocked me down my freshman year of high school when I got cut from the school team that all my friends had made. But because of that, I got back up and I learned what it meant to put in the work when absolutely nobody was watching. You gave me the drive to be the very best I can be, rather than comparing myself to others.
You threw my family for a loop and probably made my parents want to pull their hair
out when I started playing on a team that was a three-hour drive from home. But now,
I cherish the uninterrupted conversations I got to have with my mom and dad to pass
the time on those drives.
Even when my sisters and I would annoy each other or fight over clothes, it wouldn’t be long before one of us asked the others if we wanted to shoot around at the field that afternoon. I’ll always cherish summer evenings when my entire family would drive up to our high school fields and my sisters and I would fire ball after ball at my dad until he couldn’t take it anymore (or until I dislocated his pinky — sorry Dad!).
You gave me a scholarship to the best University in the best city and the opportunity to meet new people and make my closest friends. You threw me into a new place hundreds of miles away from my family, but somehow you knew that was exactly what I needed.
Over those years, you pushed me to my physical, emotional and mental breaking points, but it bonded me with people that I now consider family. Although the wins and championships were pretty sweet, it was my teammates that made it the best experience of my life. Because of you, I became confident in myself. I learned how to become a leader; one that leads with love and humility, not through yelling and screaming.
You taught me about loving the process more than the destination because I would do it all over again if I could. Even after so many years, you continue to give. Now, you are giving me an opportunity to travel the world and experience a new place and culture.
As I reflect on the past 18 years of my life, I realized that you were an avenue through which I was able to establish my identity, not my identity itself. I have a lot to offer this world on and off your fields, and because of you, I’m confident and crazy enough to believe that I can do whatever I set my mind to.
-Stasia Mallin