KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Suffolk women's soccer team picked up a United Soccer Coaches Team Ethics and Sportsmanship Silver Award Tuesday afternoon in recognition of its exhibition of fair play, sporting behavior and adherence to the laws of the game.
The Team Ethics and Sportsmanship Award is given to the United Soccer Coaches members at four levels. Team honors at the platinum level went an entire season without a player or coaching receiving a yellow or red card. Squads honored at the gold (1-10%), silver (11-30%) and bronze (31-50%) levels are based on percentage calculated by the total number of cards received by players/coaches divided by the team's total number of games.
The Rams earned a spot in the silver category after receiving just two yellow cards (11.7 percent) in Suffolk's 15th season, which consisted of 17 outings. The blue-and-gold is one of 75 institutions in the silver category and is one of two Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) representatives on the 153-team list as the University of New Engalnd took home a gold accolade.
The recognition is Suffolk's seven overall from the national organization in the Ethics & Sportsmanship category and is the first since 2017. The Rams have been awarded silver status five times and told and bronze honors once in 2008 and 2017, respectively.
Suffolk's 2021 was one of the most successful in program history as the 11-6-0 overall record shares second in the record books for single-season victories alongside the 2010 team (11-10-0). The Rams ventured into CCC play for the first time and secured a spot in the postseason as the fifth seed with a 5-4-0 league ledger.
Individually, four members of the squad collected both United Soccer Coaches all-region and all-conference honors from the CCC.