PRINCETON, N.J. -- Nine Ivies were recognized as NCAA Woman of the Year nominees. The award honors graduating female student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service and leadership. 
 
Abby Carchio, a three-time First Team All-Ivy honoree for the Brown women’s soccer team, concluded her career with 49 points. The history major was 1-of-10 fellows selected to create the Brown Global Sports Fellowship, which uses sport to engage with lower income youth in Providence, R.I. 

Zion Lewis, a four-time All-Ivy recipient for the Brown women’s indoor and outdoor track & field teams, was named the Most Outstanding Field Performer of the Meet at the 2020 Ivy League Indoor Track & Field Championships. The political science major was a participant in the Brown Engaged Scholars Program and also served as the public relations chair of the Black Student Union. 
 
A three-time First Team All-Ivy selection for the Columbia women’s volleyball team, Chichi Ikwuazom capped her Lion career with an Ivy League Player of the Year nod in 2019. Off the court, the psychology major volunteered at the ArchCare Timebank, providing companionship for residents in nursing homes. 

Taylor Knibb, a two-time All-Ivy performer for the Cornell women’s cross country team, also competed in women’s outdoor track & field and women’s swimming & diving. Knibb earned a psychology major, authoring her senior honors thesis in the implicit social cognition lab under Professor Melissa Ferguson.
 
A four-time All-Ivy honoree, Micah Zandee-Hart was twice named a Third Team All-American for the Cornell women’s ice hockey program. A member of the Canadian senior national team, Zandee-Hart earned a psychology major while also volunteering for the Canadian Cancer Foundation, Edmonton Children’s Hospital, Muscular Dystrophy Canada and the Salvation Army. 
 
An economics major, Bente van Vlijmen was a four-time First Team All-Ivy selection and a two-time Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year for the Harvard field hockey team. Off the field, van Vlijmen volunteered her time at the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter and as an advisor and tutor at Christelijk Lyceum Zeist. 
 
Nia Akins—a nursing and nutrition science major and a member of the Penn women’s cross country, women’s indoor track & field and women’s outdoor track & field teams—was a three-time Most Outstanding Track Performer of the Meet at the Ivy League Track & Field Championships. Akins was 1-of-3 finalists for the USTFCCCA National Women’s Track Athlete of the Year and 1-of-10 athletes on the Bowerman Award watch list as the nation’s top collegiate track & field athlete. She was a member of the Sphinx Senior Society, the oldest and most prestigious honor society at Penn. 
 
An ecology and evolutionary biology major, Claire Thompson was a three-time All-Ivy recipient on the Princeton women’s ice hockey team. A member of the Canadian senior national team. Off the ice, Thompson volunteered her time as both a peer academic advisor and a peer health academic advisor. 
 
Stephanie Higginson, a three-time First Team All-Ivy honoree for the Yale women’s soccer program, was 1-of-30 nominees for the Senior CLASS Award. Higginson earned a dual major in economics and political science, while volunteering for the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, Loaves and Fishes and Orleans Public Defenders. 
 
The Ivy League’s conference-level nominees will be announced in August. The national selection committee will then choose the top 10 honorees in each NCAA division. From those 30 honorees, the national selection committee will determine the three finalists from each division. Finally, the members of the Committee on Women’s Athletics will vote from among the top nine finalists to determine the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year this fall.