UNC’s Whitney Engen is ACC Women’s Soccer Scholar- Athlete of the Year

North Carolina senior defender Whitney Engen (Rolling Hills Estates, CA) has been named the 2009 Atlantic Coast Conference Women’s Soccer Scholar-Athlete of the Year and heads up the sport’s ACC All-Academic team, as announced by Commissioner John D. Swofford.

All 11 league schools that compete in women’s soccer are represented on this year’s ACC All-Academic Team, which includes four players that were named first-, second- or third-team All-America and both the ACC Defensive Player of the Year (Engen) and the Offensive Player of the Year (Florida State’s Tiffany McCarty).

The 2009 ACC All-Academic Team also includes 11 players that were named first- or second-team All-ACC and six members of the ACC All-Freshman Team. Eighteen members of the All-Academic Team were named Academic All-District by ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA, and four were named Academic All-America by the NSCAA or ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA.

Engen, a consensus All-American, earlier received the 2009-10 Honda Award for women’s soccer, designating her as the nation’s top collegiate female athlete in that sport. Engen was the center back in North Carolina’s unique flat back-three defensive scheme.

She made the transition to defense after starting at forward her first two years at UNC, finishing those two seasons as North Carolina’s third-leading scorer with 37 points and 20 points, respectively. She was named the 2009 NCAA Women’s College Cup MVP on Defense after helping her team to its third national championship in the past four years.