GREENWOOD, Ind. – Following consistent excellence both in the classroom and between the lines,
Natalie Held of the Salisbury University women's lacrosse team has joined her sport's academic elite,
earning a place on the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-America Second Team on Tuesday afternoon.
Held, a junior from Ellicott City, Md.,
stands as the 49th Academic All-American in the history of Salisbury athletics. She joins Sea Gull softball's duo of
Abby Mace and
Meghan Reed as well as cross country and track & field standout
Sam Bodmer on the list of 2023-24 Academic All-Americans.
Held enters her senior year at Salisbury with a 3.91 grade-point average as an Exercise Science major on the Allied Health track. Held has landed on the Dean's List in each of her semesters at SU, holds membership in the Chi Alpha Sigma Honor Society, and was
named SU's 2023-24 Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year back in April.
Held has also volunteered with the Humane Society, Special Olympics, and Sea Gull Century throughout her Sea Gull tenure.
On the field, Held met the same standards of brilliance. After locking down her second Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference (C2C) Defensive Player of the Year award, the Sea Gull star was
awarded Division III's top defensive honor as the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) Defender of the Year. She secured First-Team All-America honors from the IWLCA and USA Lacrosse Magazine following the season as well.
Held started all 22 contests on the Sea Gull back line, setting career-highs in draw controls (83), ground balls (55), and caused turnovers (40). She finished second in the C2C forcing 1.82 miscues per game while headlining the Salisbury unit that led the conference and ranked 28th nationally in scoring defense (8.41).
With her senior campaign on the horizon, Held currently ranks fifth in program history in career draw controls (145) and needs just four grounders to enter the top 10 (101).
SU's four recipients during the 2023-24 year are the most since the school landed six Academic All-Americans in 2015-16, the most in school history. Including Bodmer, Salisbury's four spring honorees also match the single-semester record.
Held was voted to the Academic All-America team from the pool of Academic All-District honorees. The Division III Academic All-America program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division III national governance structure to assist CSC with handling the awards fulfillment aspects of the 2023-24 Division III Academic All-America program.
Salisbury University is a proud member of NCAA Division III with primary membership in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference, along with the New Jersey Athletic Conference for football and men's and women's swimming, and the Coastal Lacrosse Conference for men's lacrosse. With over 500 student-athletes in 23 varsity sports, SU is recognized as one of the most competitive intercollegiate athletics programs regardless of division, featuring dedicated coaches and staff that foster excellence on and off the field. The Sea Gulls have celebrated 23 team national championships, 24 individual national champions, 199 conference championships, and 49 Academic All-Americans.
To Make Tomorrow Yours at Salisbury University, and learn more about Sea Gull Athletics' tradition of excellence, visit www.SUSeaGulls.com or follow on social media @SUSeaGulls.
