Paige Bendell

AWARDS:
Senior season (2016)
· All-SEC First Team
· CoSIDA Academic All-America First Team
· NSCAA All-South Region Third Team
· NSCAA Scholar All-South Region Second Team
· SEC Defensive Player of the Week (Week 10)
· SEC Preseason Watch List
· SEC Academic Honor Roll

Junior season (2015)
· SEC Academic Honor Roll

Sophomore season (2014)
· SEC Academic Honor Roll

Freshman season (2013)
· SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll

IN THE RECORD BOOK:
· 10th — Career games played (90)
· Shares sophomore record for matches played (25)

2016: Made the start in all 24 matches, serving as an anchor for one of the top back lines in the country…ranked second on the team with 2,125 minutes of game action…through her efforts, the Gamecocks set a school record with a 0.41 goals against average, the sixth-best mark in Division I…Carolina conceded 10 goals on the year, including just three in SEC play…the Gamecocks’ league-leading 14 shutouts were one short of the program’s single-season record…led all defenders with three goals…scored Carolina’s first goal of the season, netting a score at Oklahoma (8/19)…tallied the second-fast goal in program history after scoring 48 seconds into Carolina’s match against Vanderbilt (10/20).

2015: Saw time in 18 matches and started 13 games for South Carolina’s backline…finished the season with one point after registering her first career assist in the Gamecocks’ win over Colgate (9/4)…helped South Carolina notch six shutouts on the year…put four of her nine shot attempts on frame…her nine shots and three starts during the season were both career highs…started in both postseason matches against Auburn (11/4) and UNCW (11/13).

2014: Played in all 25 games and recorded one start…totaled two points on one goal in 931 minutes…put three of seven shots on frame…scored a goal in 2-0 home-opening win over Samford (8/24)…also recorded shots on goal at USF (9/12) and at Vanderbilt (10/24)…started at centerback in the historic 1-0 win over No. 6 North Carolina (11/23) with senior All-American Taylor Leach forced to sit after garnering two yellow cards in the previous match…went the distance against the Tar Heels, helping the Gamecocks earn the shutout and win their first Round of 16 game in program history…logged 43 minutes in the national quarterfinal at No. 2 Florida State (11/28)

2013: Played in all 23 matches as a sub … Totaled 569 minutes playing both in the attack and in the defense … Scored first career goal at Missouri (10/18).

PRE-COLLEGE: A 2013 graduate of Carl Sandburg High School in Orland Park, Ill. …lettered two years in soccer…named All-Conference, All-Area, All-Sectional…helped team to a state runner-up finish in 2009…State Cup champion…also lettered in volleyball for three years….volleyball All-Conference, All-Area, All-Sectional, All-Chicago Southtown selection and All-State nominee….both her soccer and volleyball teams were conference and regional champions every year she played…played with the Eclipse club soccer team for head coach Mike Nesci…ECNL regular season championships two years running….was listed on the high honor roll all four years of high school and has been accepted into the USC Honors College.

PERSONAL: Paige Victoria Bendell was born Sept. 19, 1994…parents are Dave and Laurie Bendell… twin brother Nick is slated to play volleyball at Harvard next year…older sister Brook is a competitive cheerleader at University of Illinois…plans to major in accounting at South Carolina…hobbies includes beach volleyball.