EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Evansville women's soccer player Emily Griebel received her Missouri Valley Conference Elite 18 Award on Saturday at the men's basketball game vs. Southern Illinois.
 
Griebel and her family were awarded a commemorative Elite 18 canvas from University of Evansville Director of Athletics Mark Spencer.
 
A sophomore midfielder from Peoria, Illinois, Griebel earned the award in November when she was named the MVC Elite 18 recipient at the Women's Soccer Tournament Championship.
 
She is only the fourth Purple Ace to ever earn the prestigious distinction (Swimmer Christina Schmidgall – 2011, Golfer Quinn Vilneff – 2013, Swimmer Abby Smith – 2014).
 
The Elite 18 Award was modelled after the NCAA Elite 88 Academic Recognition Award Program and was installed in the MVC in the fall of 2010. The Elite 18 Award honors the highest achievement in academics and athletics by a student-athlete in each MVC-sponsored sport. The award is bestowed to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average while competing at the finals at each of the MVC's 18 team championships.
 
Emily has a perfect 4.0 cumulative GPA in exercise science and desires to become a physical therapist. Griebel played in nine matches this year for UE and took five shots (one on goal).