College Athletics News – Guilford’s Garcia Named First Team Academic All-American

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Guilford College’s E’leyna Garcia (Plantation, Fla./Pine Crest Prep) earned First Team Capital One Academic All-America® Division III At-Large recognition, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), Tuesday. The senior attacker from the Quakers’ women’s lacrosse team is the school’s first two-time Capital One Academic All-America® honoree.

A Second Team Capital One Academic All-American® in 2013, Garcia joins classmate John Macon Smith and former soccer standout Alex Hutton ’03 as Guilford’s lone first-team selections. The announcement gives the Quakers nine Capital One Academic All-Americans® in school history, including two this season.

The accolades continue to mount for Garcia, arguably Guilford’s finest lacrosse player. Last month she became the first Quaker honored as an All-American by the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Association (IWLCA) with her third-team selection to the 2014 NCAA Division III team. A two-time First Team All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) and IWLCA All-Chesapeake Region pick, she capped a brilliant college career this spring with a league-best 86 goals, Division III’s third-highest figure. Her 4.53 goals per game stand eighth in the country. She also had 20 assists for 106 points, second among league leaders and the nation’s 11th-best total. Garcia averaged 5.00 draw controls per contest, which stands 50th in Division III and fifth in the ODAC. She set the NCAA Division III record by scoring at least one goal in 70 consecutive games. The team captain earned the ODAC’s Player of the Week Award April 7 after an 11-point week in two Quakers’ wins.

E'leyna Garcia 2014

E’leyna Garcia 2014 by Greensboro Sports

Eâ??leyna Garcia (Plantation, Fla./Pine Crest Prep)

Garcia graduated May 17 with seven school records, including career points (364) and goals in a game (10, two times), season (99, 2013) and career (287). Her 287 career goals stand second in ODAC history and 11th all-time in Division III. She was a third-team selection to the 2013 SynapseSports.com Division III All-America Team after leading Division III with 99 goals. Garcia will play in one final game as a collegian June 6 when she suits up in the IWLCA’s Division III North-South All-Star Game.

The dean’s psychology major graduated with high honors last month and a 3.70 grade point average (G.P.A.). She was named the ODAC’s 2014 Women’s Lacrosse Scholar-Athlete and was a finalist for the league’s Berkley Award, presented annually to the ODAC’s top senior female student-athlete. Garcia earned Guilford’s prestigious 2014 English Athletic Leadership Award, given to the school’s top student-athlete. She also received one of Guilford’s vaunted Dana Scholarships and is a two-time Capital One Academic All-District 5 honoree®. Garcia served as a peer educator at Guilford, spent four years as a mentor to teenage mothers at a local YWCA branch and was a lunch buddy for local elementary school students. She has been accepted into the Graduate Program in Psychology at Howard University and begins studies there in August.

Garcia helped coach Sarah Lamphier’s Quakers to a 12-7 overall record (8-2 ODAC) and their first ODAC Tournament final appearance. Guilford loses Garcia to graduation, but could return as many as 12 letterwinners in 2015.

About Capital One
Capital One Financial Corporation (www.capitalone.com) is a financial holding company whose subsidiaries, which include Capital One, N.A., and Capital One Bank (USA), N. A., had $206.9 billion in deposits and $289.9 billion in total assets as of September 30, 2013.

Headquartered in McLean, Va., Capital One offers a broad spectrum of financial products and services to consumers, small businesses and commercial clients through a variety of channels. Capital One, N.A. has more than 900 branch locations primarily in New York, New Jersey, Texas, Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. A Fortune 500 company, Capital One trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “COF” and is included in the S&P 100 index.

To be eligible for Academic All-America® consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. The at-large squads are comprised of student-athletes in crew, fencing, field hockey, golf, gymnastics, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, swimming, golf and tennis.

Since the program’s inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America® honors on more than 20,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports.

For more information about the Academic All-America® Teams program, please visit www.cosida.com or www.capitaloneacademicallamerica.com.