From a program-record pool of 605 school nominees, 161 college athletes have been named conference-level nominees for the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year Award. Taylor Clar from Geneseo represents the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) on the list that includes 63 Division III athletes.
As the center back on the Knights women's soccer team, Clar helped her team hold their opponents to a .74 goals against average as her team also registered 10 shutouts in the 2019 season. She also scored three goals, two game winning, and added an assist. Clar was named the 2019 SUNYAC Defensive Player of the Year. Over her four year career at Geneseo she was named to the All-Conference first team every season (1 of only 9 in SUNYAC women's soccer history) and was a four-time All-Region selection. Clar helped lead her team to two SUNYAC championship titles and qualified for the NCAA tournament three times. She had no yellow or red cards in her career at Geneseo and her team was awarded the United Soccer Coaches Team Ethics and Sportsmanship Award the last four years.
Off the field Clar was named the SUNYAC Scholar Athlete of the Year and was a three-time CoSIDA Academic All-District team selection. She is a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma International Business Honors Society, the Golden Key National Honors Society and the Phi Eta Sigma National Honors Society. She volunteers with the Income Tax Assistance Program, the Cure for Diabetes Walk, the conference-wide Leaf Raking Initiative, Foodlink and the Breast Cancer Walk.
The NCAA Woman of the Year program is rooted in Title IX and has recognized graduating female college athletes for excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership since its inception in 1991.
The Woman of the Year Selection Committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will now choose the Top 30 honorees — 10 from each division — from the conference-level nominees. The Top 30 honorees will be announced in September. From there, the selection committee will narrow the pool to three finalists from each division. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will select the 2020 Woman of the Year from the nine finalists.
The Top 30 honorees will be celebrated and the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year will be named this fall.
