William Smith senior midfielder Ruth Hotaling was named to the United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division III Scholar All-America second team today. This is the second straight year that Hotaling earned Scholar All-America recognition.
 
A mathematics and music major, Hotaling was also named to the United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-Region team for the second straight year. The Delmar, New York, native was named a College Sports Communicators Academic All-American yesterday. In addition, Hotaling is a three-time Academic All-District pick and a three-time Liberty League All-Academic honoree.
 
The 2025 Liberty League Offensive Player of the Year, Hotaling started all 17 matches this season. She led the Herons and the Liberty League with 12 goals and 25 points. Hotaling produced three multi-goal games this season. She also had four game-winning goals, including wins over Skidmore, Ithaca and Bard in Liberty League play.
 
A four-year starter, Hotaling was a two-time United Soccer Coaches All-American. In 83 career games, she recorded 77 points on 26 goals and 25 assists. Hotaling finished her career 19th in program history in points and seventh in assists. She was named to the NCAA All-Tournament team in 2024 after guiding the Herons to the national championship match.
 
To be named to the Scholar All-America teams, a student-athlete must be at least a junior in athletic standing, have a minimum 3.40 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale), play a minimum of 75 percent of games during the season and be an elite player as supported by playing honors (i.e. All-American, all-region, all-conference).
 
Since Cheryl Wallace became the Herons' first Scholar All-American in 1999, William Smith has had 21 student-athletes honored. Hotaling is the second Heron to earn Scholar All-American recognition twice, joining Julia Berg '23, G '24 (2022, 2023).
 
Hotaling and the Herons finished the season with an 11-3-3 overall record, including a 7-1-1 mark in Liberty League play. They finished second in the conference standings.