HACKETTSTOWN, N.J. – Recent graduate Sam Bombardiere was named the Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) NCAA Woman of the Year Nominee this week.

Bombardiere, a key member of the women's soccer team before receiving her degree in May, was named Centenary's NCAA Woman of the Year nominee earlier this summer.

The NCAA Woman of the Year award recognizes graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.

From the original nominations received from the schools, conferences selected one or two nominations to advance to this stage of the award process. The original field of 585 nominees has been narrowed to 148 student-athletes. The nominees represent college athletes from 20 sorts spanning all three NCAA divisions. Of the nominees, 64 competed in Division I, 33 competed in Division II and 51 competed in Division III.

The Woman of the Year selection committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will choose the Top 30 honorees — 10 from each division at some point in September.
 
The selection committee will determine the top three honorees from each division from the Top 30 and announce the nine finalists in October. From those nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics then will choose the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year.

Bombardiere appeared in 55 games during her Cyclone career and made 48 starts. She missed her sophomore season due to being diagnosed with cancer but returned to score the first three goals of her career as a junior. Her senior season is when all the hard work to come back from cancer paid off as she was named the Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) Defensive Player of the Year as a key member of a defensive unit that did not allow a goal in conference play and set the school record for single-season shutouts with 12. Bombardiere helped Centenary win the CSAC Championship and advance to the NCAA Tournament.
 
Off the field, Bombardiere was well honored during her senior season. She was one of four national finalists for the Honda Inspiration Award. Bombardiere was Centenary's NJAIAW Woman of the Year representative and was a member of the Google Cloud CoSIDA Academic All-District Team. Bombardiere was named the CSAC Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year as a senior. She earned a spot on the Dean's List every semester and earned the Stutzman's Prize, given for excellence in biology.
 
Bombardiere was active in the community during her college career. She was a Love Your Melon club ambassador, a member of the pre-professional club, a Pre-K soccer mentor, a member of Groundwork Elizabeth and joined Turned the Town Teal.