Emory University seniors Michelle Davidson and Sophia Garcia were honored Wednesday afternoon as they were selected as Academic All-Americans by the College Sports Communicators (CSC) organization.
Davidson and Garcia are the first Eagles to earn Academic All-America recognition for the 2025-26 academic calendar and bring Emory University's all-time total to 248 in its history. The duo are the first Eagles from the women's soccer program to earn the distinction since 2022 and are the 17th and 18th players in team history to be selected.
Davidson was tabbed to the CSC Academic All-America Second Team whereas Garcia landed a spot on the Third Team. To view the full CSC Academic All-America teams for women's soccer, please click here.
Davidson and Garcia put a capper on their standout seasons by adding more recognition to their resumes. The defensive standouts led Emory to its best season in program history in 2025, turning in an overall record of 21-2-1 and advancing to the national championship game for the second time in program history. The Eagles set team records with 21 wins and 18 shutouts and were ranked as a top-five team in the country for the entire season. Behind Davidson and Garcia, the Eagles boasted one of the strongest defensive units in the country with Emory ranking 11th nationally in goals against-average, 16th in save percentage and sixth in shutout percentage.
This season, Davidson was one of two Eagles to be honored as a United Soccer Coaches First Team All-American and gained recognition with her selection as the NCAA Division III Defensive Most Outstanding Player for the tournament as well as her second straight selection as the University Athletic Association Defensive MVP. In addition, she landed spots on the All-UAA and All-Region VI First Teams.
For Garcia, she was named to the United Soccer Coaches All-America Third Team after previously being tabbed to the All-Region VI and All-UAA First Teams. She concluded the year ranked ninth in Division III in GAA (0.378), 17th in save percentage (0.886) and second with 13 clean sheets.
Davidson and Garcia were two of 12 Emory soccer players to be nominated for the CSC Academic All-America program, joining teammates Mikayla Camp, Kaitlyn Nimmer, Riley Miller and Claudia Schmidt as well as six from men's soccer: Michael Constant, Adeyemi Oni, Owen Clark, Ignacio Cubeddu, Jack Burgess and Logan Steren.
To be eligible, a student-athlete must compete in 90 percent of the institution's matches played or must start in at least 66 percent of the institution's matches. They also must maintain at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale). First-year athletes are ineligible for the award. All players nominated earn the distinction of CSC Academic All-District and then proceed to be placed on the national ballot for Academic All-America voting.
