Dec. 12, 2011

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By Miquel Jacobs
Assistant Media Relations Director

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina forward Kayla Grimsley capped her record-setting senior season by being named a National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSAA) Women’s Soccer All-American, as voted on by soccer coaches across the country. It marks the second consecutive season that Grimsley has been named an All-American by the organization.

Grimsley was a second team selection, becoming the first Gamecock to be honored by the NSCAA twice in her career, and her selection marks the third straight season that a Gamecock was honored. She was a fourth team pick in 2010 and was preceded by Blakely Mattern earning First Team All-America honors in 2009.

Grimsley is one of 49 players to earn All-America honors this season, and she is one of four SEC players to make the list. South Carolina is one of two SEC programs to have a player named an NSCAA All-American each of the last three seasons.

“I love the feeling I had when I found out because last year I was a fourth team pick, which is still an accomplishment and honor, but to jump up to the second team and get more recognition from coaches around the country is awesome,” Grimsley said. “I needed that, and the program needed that. I’m really thankful that they looked to me as somebody that is that much more improved from last year.”

The 2011 season saw records break on the field as Grimsley, the SEC Offensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season, set the South Carolina program record for career points after a 10-goal, 10-assist campaign that moved her to career marks of 43 goals and 33 assists for 119 points. She finished the season eighth on the NCAA active list for career points and was the only active player in the NCAA with 40 goals and 30 assists in her career. She concludes her career with 27 school records to her name, including career points, career assists, single-season points and single-game assists.

The Gamecocks were named SEC Regular Season and Eastern Division champions with a 9-2-0 league record and 16-7-0 overall record. Grimsley helped lead the Gamecocks to a program-record eight-match SEC winning streak to win the league for the first time in program history. The team advanced to the NCAA Second Round and advanced to post-season play all four of her playing years.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better senior season,” Grimsley said. “That’s funny because you’d expect someone to say they want to win a national championship. Since I’ve been here I’ve wanted to, but we had a great year. We started rough and the seniors got to the point of not knowing what was going to happen, and to turn it around quickly and have that winning streak to win the SEC Championships outright (was amazing). Even after losing in the first round of the SEC Tournament, which was an awful feeling, but to come back and beat Texas in the NCAA’s and play our hearts out at Stanford, I can’t be upset. Every single person gave what they had. Stanford is an amazing team and just came out and beat us, but I wouldn’t change anything.”