Ola Akinniyi

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Ola Akinniyi, full name Olawumi Faith Akinniyi was an American soccer player who played NCAA Division One collegiate soccer for the University of Southern Mississippi from 2015 to 2019. She ran track at the University of Southern Mississippi in 2019.

Early Years Akinniyi attended and played soccer, basketball and competed in track and field for John H. Guyer High School in Denton, Texas, now a 6A D1 high school. She committed to the University of Southern Mississippi to play college soccer.

College Career

In Akinniyi's freshman year in 2015 she started all 19 games for the Golden Eagles, and played 1,738 minutes. In 2016, Akinniyi started 15 out of 16 games, and had two assist that season. In 2018, Akinniyi was named All-Conference USA First Team, and was the team's leading goal scorer as a defender. Akinniyi was voted team mvp in 2017,and defensive player of the year. She was a key part of the Golden Eagle record breaking team that made it to the NCAA Division I C-USA Women's Soccer Tournament for the first time since 2007. The Golden Eagles defeated off No. 3 seed UAB 1-0 in the quarterfinals and No. 2 seed FAU 1-0 in the semifinals to advance to the championship match where they faced No. 1 seed North Texas, where Akinniyi scored USM's lone goal. The Golden Eagles' semifinal victory and appearance in the championship match were both firsts for the Southern Miss women's soccer program. Southern Miss' 2018 squad ended the season with a program-record, 13 wins and 11 shutouts, with Akinniyi as team Captain. Akinniyi became the first two-time C-USA All-Conference First Team selection in the history of the Golden Eagles women's soccer program. She also became the first player in the history of the Southern Miss women's soccer program to be selected to the 2018 United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Women's All-South Region First Team. Akinniyi earned a stealthy amount of accolades during her 65 game tenor at Southern Miss, and was the recipient of the Jim Castañeda Postgraduate Scholarship toward her Master of Architecture degree at the University of Miami. She was a 2018 Fall Spirit of Service Award recipient and was selected to C-USA's Women's Soccer All-Academic First Team in 2018 and 2017. Akinniyi was selected as a finalist for the NCAA Women of the Year.

References

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