KANSAS CITY, Mo. --- Senior Angela Bosco
accomplished something that even she could not have dreamed of when
she returned for another year. Bosco, the NSCAA First Team
All-American and national champion is now the Division III National
Player of the Year.
Bosco graduated in May of 2014 with a bachelor's in health
promotion and had the choice to leave school or take her final year
of eligibility and pursue something that had never been
accomplished at Lynchburg. She decided to stay.
"I knew we were going to be a good team when I came back because
this team has something different," Bosco said. "Every player
dreams of being a national champion. To be a senior and have it end
this way, I can walk away and be really proud of everything I've
accomplished."
Bosco set herself on a path to becoming Division III National
Player of the Year early in the season, defeating then No. 5-ranked
Johns Hopkins University on an overtime goal to win it for
Lynchburg. She went on to score nine goals in her next three
games.
That would be nothing compared to what she did on the biggest
stages.
The quarterfinals of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC)
tournament saw Bosco score three goals in a span of 3:55, the
seventh fastest to a hat trick in the history of Division III. She
went on to score a school-record six goals while setting another
Lynchburg record with 12 points. She was rightfully named ODAC
Player of the Year at the conclusion of the Hornets' fifth-straight
title.
"Every game this year, I thought she was the best player on the
field," Lynchburg head coach Todd Olsen said. "That is shown
through her 30 goals and 16 assists. She scored in the big games
and made an impact and epitomizes what a national player of the
year should be."
Bosco shined on an even grander scale in the NCAA tournament,
scoring a pair of goals and assisting on three more as Lynchburg
reached the regional final. The round of 16 matchup took its toll
on the forward as she went down awkwardly outside the box and had
to be helped off the field after assisting on both of LC's goals
earlier in the match. She missed the next game, one where Lynchburg
advanced past Messiah College on penalty kicks to reach the
national semifinals.
It was at this point she knew she needed to get healthy, both for
the team that rallied around her at Messiah, and for herself to
accomplish the goal set back in May when she decided to return.
"I couldn't even put weight on my knee and as the days went by, I
knew I had to do everything to get on the field for my team," Bosco
added. "I knew I had to work as hard as I could no matter what pain
I was feeling. They got that game for me and I had to get that
title for them."
Bosco saw her team fall behind early in the national semifinal, but
she was the one, bulky knee brace and all, to tie up the match. The
Hornets ultimately scored in the second half to make it to their
first NCAA championship game.
"It was incredible, and something I will remember my entire life,"
Bosco stated.
There are so many memories for the senior, and not all came on the
pitch.
She is part of the WOW program at Lynchburg College, which stands
for Women of Worth. The program has adopted 10 girls in Africa and
is paying for their complete education through senior year. Women
of Worth has also adopted 13 girls from Dunbar Middle School and
mentors them. Clearly, Bosco is a mentor to these young girls and
provides them with a great role model.
"Angela (Bosco) has been to Africa with me to see why education is
so important," Olsen added. "We do everything we can to empower
women and we think the best way to do that is through education and
that is what we are doing in Africa. Angela serves as an educator
at Dunbar Middle to show not only that college is in fact a
reality, but the importance of graduating from high school."
Bosco has since interned with Sports Outreach, an international
organization that goes into other countries and uses soccer and
other sports to help impoverished populations deal with civil war
and genocide.
As the Hornets rushed the field and claimed the national
championship trophy, Bosco fittingly got the cherished prize first.
The tears streaming down, it had been accomplished. All the years
playing soccer, volunteering to help those in Africa and locally,
giving her all to Lynchburg she had finally done it. She was a
national champion, and now she is Division III National Player of
the Year.
--- This release is
courtesy of the Lynchburg College sports information department.
---
athletics.lynchburg.edu