D'YOUVILLE'S ALI COCHRANE NAMED AMCC HONOREE FOR NCAA WOMAN OF THE YEAR

D'Youville College women's basketball player Ali Cochrane has been selected as the 2017 AMCC Honoree for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award. 

Cochrane, a guard for the Spartans, was president of her campus Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and named to the AMCC All-Sportsmanship team this year. She did much more than just take part in community service and volunteer opportunities on her campus, but she was the one organizing every event. Cochrane organized community service events such as Project Linus, where fleece blankets were made by the student-athletes and donated to local hospitals and shelters, a breast cancer awareness t-shirt fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, Habitat for Humanity events, a multiple sclerosis awareness fundraiser, a 3-on-3 basketball tournament fundraiser for the Miracle League, and the Buffalo Cup t-shirt Fundraiser for the Buffalo Police Athletic League. 

Cochrane, a senior resident advisor, was also the co-chair for the D'Youville College Athletics Committee, the co-founder and president for the Exercise and Sports Studies Club, and was also a member of the D'Youville Student Association, where she served as a freshman senator in 2015 and secretary in 2016.

Academically, Cochrane graduated with a bachelor's degree in Exercise and Sports Studies in three years with a 3.99 GPA. She received the Exercise and Sports Studies Departmental Award, the Student Affairs Award of Distinction, the D'Youville College Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award, and the D'Youville Unsung Hero Award. She was also named to the AMCC All-Academic Team (2014-2017) and is a member of the Chi Alpha Sigma National Collegiate Student-Athlete Honor Society. 

On the basketball court, Cochrane was named a D'Youville College Player of the Week and received AMCC Best of the Rest recognition, while also receiving the DYC women's basketball Spartan award. 

Cochrane stated, "Before coming to D'Youville College, I was very focused on my own goals and my own future, but the opportunities I have been given as a student-athlete and scholar have inspired me to shift my focus to how my future can impact others."

The NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee selects the Top 30 – 10 from each division and then three finalists from each division. The Committee on Women’s Athletics selects the winner from the top nine. All 30 Woman of the Year honorees will be recognized, and the 2017 Woman of the Year announced on Sunday, October 22 at an awards dinner in Indianapolis, IN. 

The NCAA Woman of the Year program honors the academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service and leadership of graduating female college athletes from all three divisions. To be eligible, a nominee must have competed and earned a varsity letter in an NCAA-sponsored sport, must have completed eligibility in her primary sport, and must have earned her undergraduate degree by Summer 2017.