It's been quite a year for Clarkson University Women's Hockey standout Cayley Mercer.

Mercer, who earned a myriad of honors this season as a co-captain for the Golden Knights' National Championship team, has been selected as Clarkson's nominee for the 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year award. The prestigious award honors athletic and academic achievement, community service and leadership of graduating senior student-athletes from all three NCAA divisions.
 
A Top Three Finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, Mercer was named USCHO Player of the Year, earned First-Team All-America and ECAC Hockey Player of the Year honors, and gained numerous other accolades during the Golden Knights' second run to an NCAA Division I National Championship. Selected as Most Outstanding Player of the 2017 Frozen Four, Mercer led Clarkson to its second National Title since 2014, her freshman campaign, with two goals in the 3-0 victory over Wisconsin in the NCAA Championship game.
 
The Exeter, Ontario native was tied for the national lead in scoring with 62 points also had 28 goals, the most in the country.
 
A four-year all-star for the Green and Gold, Mercer is Clarkson's all-time leading goal scorer and second in the program's 14-year history in points with 80 goals and 178 points through 160 career games from 2013-17.
 
Academics were an equally impressive area of excellence for Mercer, who graduated as a distinct member of the Honors Society Beta Alpha Psi and completed her MBA this May. She was a four-time ECAC Hockey All-Academic Team member.
 
An active member in the community, Mercer was involved with Potsdam Elementary School, village clean up, and helped to organize the National Girls and Women's in Sports Day clinic.
 
Named Clarkson's Female Athlete of the Year, Mercer is one of eight nominees who played ice hockey, five of which played at the Division I level.
 
The Woman of the Year program was founded in 1991 and saw the highest number of nominees in its history this year with 543.

Eligible female student-athletes are nominated by their member school. Each conference office then reviews the nominations from its core member schools (and sponsored sports) and submits its conference nominee(s) to the NCAA. All nominees that compete in a sport that is not sponsored by their core conference, associate conference nominees and independent nominees will be sent to a separate pool to be considered by a committee. Then, the NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee selects the Top 30 – 10 from each division and then three finalists from each division. The Committee on Women's Athletics selects the winner from the Top 9.

All 30 Woman of the Year honorees will be recognized, and the 2017 Woman of the Year announced, at an awards dinner at the JW Marriott Indianapolis on Sunday, Oct. 22, 2017.

NCAA Woman of the Year website

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