Junior Kate Del Fava was one of ten student-athletes named by Commissioner Doug Elgin to be honored with the State Farm MVC Good Neighbor Award for the 2018-19 fall season. She is the fifth Redbird soccer player in history to be recognized for this honor and the first since Sara Stankoskey was awarded it in back-to-back years in 2015 and 2016.
In order to be eligible for the award, the student-athlete must be in good academic standing, must demonstrate good citizenship through good sportsmanship and significant community service, and must participate in a sport, during the season of recognition. The Valley will recognize 10 student-athletes three times annually (fall, winter, spring), for a total of 30 honorees. Institutions select their State Farm MVC Good Neighbor Award honorees.
The midfielder has a 4.00 cumulative grade point average while double majoring in Pre-Veterinarian Medicine and Animal Science. Already this year, Del Fava has received Google Cloud CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team honors, was featured in the Oct. 3 MVC Scholar-Athlete Spotlight and recognized as a PNC Bank Achiever of the Game. The Kenosha, Wisconsin, native was named to the MVC Commissioner's List for the 2017-18 season and has made the MVC and AFNI honor rolls every year/semester she has been eligible.
In addition to her academic achievement, Del Fava is active in the community. Some of her community service includes:
- Community Movie Night Volunteer (Fall 2018)
- SAAC Representative (Spring 2017-Present)
- Oakdale Elementary Pen Pals (Fall 2018)
- Boys and Girls Club of Bloomington (Spring 2018-present)
- Special Olympics (Spring 2018)
- ISU Thank-A-Thon (Spring 2017, Spring 2018)
- Read Across McLean County (Spring 2018)
- Eastland Companion Hospital volunteer
- Regner Veterinary Clinic volunteer
- Bring It Back to Normal (Spring 2018)
- Recess/Lunch Buddies
On the field this season, Del Fava earned All-MVC First Team honors for the second time in her career, after netting five goals and dishing out three assists. She averaged over 83 minutes per match while starting every game for the Redbirds. Del Fava has played in every game since she set foot on campus in 2016 and started in all but two.
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