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Bitzan Earns Academic All-District Honors

Bitzan Earns Academic All-District Honors

MOORHEAD, Minn. (10/29/15)—Concordia senior goalie Elizabeth Bitzan was named to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District Team.

The CoSIDA Academic All-District Team was formerly known as the Capital One Academic All-District Team and is the most prestigious student/athlete academic award. Bitzan is now eligible to earn Academic All-American honors.

Bitzan carries a 3.85 while majoring in Mathematics and Spanish. She recently dropped her triple major in Education as well. Bitzan has been on the Dean's List at Concordia for three years and has been an Academic All-Conference honoree for two years.

Bitzan joins a long line of Cobber women's soccer athletes who have been named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team. Last year Laura Prosinski earned the honor.  

Bitzan has started 16 of the team's 17 games this season while playing with a torn ACL. She is one of the driving factors behind the Cobbers earning a berth in the MIAC playoffs for the 13th consecutive season. Bitzan made a crucial save on a penalty kick in Concordia's playoff-clinching win against Gustavus on Wednesday.

Bitzan has a 1.42 goals against average this season and has made 77 stops on the year. She has a 10-6-0 record and has posted two shutouts.

For her career Bitzan has earned 34 wins and recorded 20 shutouts in goal for the Cobbers. She has been a three-year starter and has started every conference game for the past three seasons. Btzan was named to the MIAC All-Conference Honorable Mention Team last year.      

The Academic All-District team is part of the Academic All-America program, as selected by CoSIDA. Top student-athletes from Division III programs in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan are eligible for inclusion on the District 6 team. Student-athletes must have a grade-point average above 3.30 (4.0 scale) and have outstanding athletic credentials. College sports information directors in the district vote for the teams.

This is the fifth year of the expanded Academic All-America program, as CoSIDA has moved from recognizing a University Division (Division I) and a College Division (all non-Division I), doubling the number of scholar-athletes honored. The teams include NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III participants, while the College Division team combines NAIA, Canadian and two-year schools. First-team Academic All-District members advance to the Academic All-America ballot, voted on by a committee of CoSIDA members. The Division III Academic All-America program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division III national governance structure, to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2015-16 Division III Academic All-America teams program.