NEW YORK – Recent City College of New York graduates Gabrielle Duchaussee (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) and Nicole Polanco (West Haverstraw, N.Y.) are among the record 605 nominees for the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year Award, which were announced on Tuesday.  They were nominated after distinguishing themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.

One of two players in the history of the women's soccer program to score 50 career goals, Duchaussee was a two-time CUNY Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) All-Star.  A team captain, she led the Beavers to three consecutive CUNYAC Tournament berths, including a Championship Game appearance in 2019.  In addition, Duchaussee was a First Team All-ECAC selection in 2017, when CCNY qualified for the ECAC Tournament.

The recipient of CCNY's Exceptional Senior Award and Lionel Malamed Award in 2020, she graduated with a degree in English and also earned Latin Honors.  Duchaussee was a 2020 CUNYAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year Honorable Mention selection and has twice been named to the CUNYAC Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll.  In addition, she made both the Dean's List and Athletic Director's Honor Roll every semester. 

Duchaussee has had four written pieces (three short stories, one poem) published in CCNY's literary journal, The Promethean, and received the 2020 Stark Award in Fiction in honor of Henry R. Roth for the year's best work in undergraduate short fiction. 

She also participated in the 2019 NCAA Student Immersion Program and served as the Vice President of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).  Duchaussee was instrumental in the establishment of the SAAC's weekly bake sales, which proved to be a popular fundraiser for each of CCNY's varsity athletic teams.

Polanco, who graduated with a degree in chemistry, took part in the 2020 NCAA Student Immersion Program and was a two-year member of the SAAC.  She also served as a student representative in CCNY's Academic Momentum meetings and represented the student-athletes on a number of campus committees.

A two-time recipient of the Denise Whitaker-Hill Spirit Award, Polanco helped the women's volleyball team earn back-to-back CUNYAC Tournament bids.  In the 2019, the Beavers played their first home playoff match in five years and advanced to the semifinals for the first time since 2014.

Established in 1991, the NCAA Woman of the Year Award recognizes graduating female student-athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and stood out in each of the four areas (academics, athletics, service, leadership).  This year's nominees included 259 representatives of Division I schools, as well as 126 from Division II and 220 from Division III.

CCNY's two honorees will now be considered alongside the other nominees from the CUNYAC, and the conference office will forward one or two candidates to the NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee.  The selection committee, made up of representatives from all three divisions, will then choose the Top 30 honorees—10 from each division.  

From the Top 30, the selection committee will determine the top three in each division.  The 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year, chosen from among those nine finalists, will be announced later this fall.