BURNSVILLE, Minn. - The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) has announced the 2017 NSIC Hall of Fame induction class with Concordia-St. Paul's Kristen (Schmidt) Soukup becoming CSP's third inductee. She will be joined by Louis "Nicky" Johnson (UMD MBB), Brett Beeson (MSU Moorhead MBB) and Butch Raymond (NSIC commissioner).

Soukup joins Lisa (Harfield) Borowitz (2014) and Jennifer Pozzani (2015) as Concordia's NSIC Hall of Fame members. All three were softball players, with Borowitz also excelling in soccer and basketball, while Pozzani was also a two-sport athlete as a standout basketball player.

She will enter the 19th NSIC Hall of Fame induction class on Tuesday, July 11 at the NSIC's 18th Annual Summer Kickoff event at the Best Western Premier in Burnsville. Reserve your tickets for the banquet event by visiting www.NorthernSun.org/SummerKickoff and filling out the online NSIC Hall of Fame Banquet Registration Form. Registrations are due no later than June 16, as space is limited for this event.

In addition to the four new NSIC Hall of Fame members, the NSIC will also be recognizing the NSIC 25th Anniversary Top 25 Teams at the banquet. More information on the Top 25 team is available at www.NorthernSun.org/NSIC25th.

Founded in 1986, the Northern Intercollegiate Conference (NIC - the former men's conference) Hall of Fame was established to recognize and honor those who made significant contributions to the conference, to create favorable publicity and public relations for the league and to help preserve the history of the NIC, its member institutions, student-athletes, and other significant individuals affiliated with the league. For the first two inductions (1986 and 1990) each selection hailed from the NIC. In 1993, the Northern Sun Conference (NSC - the former women's conference) and the NIC merged, creating the current Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC). After annual inductions since 2000, the NSIC Hall of Fame now boasts 193 members and one team.

The 23-member Class of 2000 was the first to include standout female student-athletes in the former NSC.

Each NSIC school (who has been a league member for at least ten years) is asked to submit one candidate  per institution for induction into the Hall. Each of the candidates are derived from individuals who have been affiliated with the NSIC, NIC, NSC and their member institutions.

In order to be eligible for the NSIC Hall of Fame, candidates must have made their contributions in one of the following areas: 1) former student-athletes, 2) administrator/coach, 3) official/supervisor/coordinator, 4) contributor/supporter, or 5) team.

Kristen (Schmidt) Soukup made her mark with the Concordia-St. Paul softball team during the 2003 to 2006 seasons. She was among the most dominant pitchers in NCAA Division II throughout her career, and helped lead the Golden Bears to three straight NCAA Sweet Sixteen appearances and a trip to the NCAA Elite Eight following the program's first NCAA Regional championship in 2005. Her NCAA success included an NCAA Tournament Most Valuable Player honor as well as multiple All-NCAA Tournament Team selections. She also helped the program capture three-straight NSIC Tournament Championships.

Schmidt's run in the 2006 NCAA Tournament was one for the ages, opening the tournament with a 5-inning (complete game) perfect game, striking out 11 of the 15 Northwest Missouri State batters she faced in an 8-0 win. Later in the tournament, she added a 1-hit shutout in extra innings (8) with 14 strikeouts of the 25 Nebraska-Omaha batters she faced in a tense 1-0 win. She also had a 2-hitter, allowing a run with 15 strikeouts in a 2-1 win over Augustana in the tournament.

She was named a 2005 NFCA All-America second  team selection, was a two-time NFCA All-Region First Team performer and a three-time Daktronics (now D2CCA) All-Region First Team selection including being named the 2006 Daktronics Central Region Most Valuable Player.

Schmidt was also a four-time All-NSIC First Team standout, a three-time NSIC All-Tournament Team selection, two-time NSIC Pitcher of the Year and the 2003 NSIC Rookie of the Year.

In her four years as a two-way standout in the circle and the batter's box, Schmidt compiled an 86-41 record with a 1.45 ERA, striking out 1,007 batters over 880.2 innings while adding eight saves and limiting opponents to a mere .181 batting average. She struck out a career-high 350 batters in 277.0 innings as a senior in 2006, winning 27 games for the second straight year in the process. Her career low ERA was a 1.18 mark in 2005 when she went 27-8.

As a hitter, Schmidt was also excellent and typically hit in the middle of Golden Bear lineup. During her NSIC Rookie of the Year campaign in 2003, she hit .393 and slugged .667 with 10 home runs, 11 doubles and 37 RBI in 50 games. She hit at least .313 all four years and had at least a .394 on base percentage and .422 slugging percentage every season. She finished a .342/.418/.486 (208-609) hitter in 210 games with 36 doubles and 16 home runs, driving in 105 runs and scoring 90.

She holds numerous career records including wins (86), strikeouts (1,007) and lowest opponent average (.181) among others while ranking in the top-10 in countless career pitching and hitting statistics. She also holds several single season and single game records including season strikeouts (350) and single game strikeouts (22).

Her 22 strikeout performance as a senior against Southwest Minnesota State (5/6/06) was just one shy of an NCAA DII record at the time and still ranks as the 13th-most strikeouts in a single game, although she is one of just two players in DII history to strike out 22 batters in a 9-inning game. Her 19 strikeouts in a regulation (7-inning) game against Minnesota Crookston (4/18/04) were just one shy of the DII record and still stand just two shy of the all-time mark today.

Schmidt also excelled in the classroom, earning 2005 ESPN The Magazine (CoSIDA) Academic All-America Second Team honors and earned NSIC All-Academic Team honors all three years she was eligible for the honor. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from CSP in 2006 and served as a graduate assistant coach on the softball team and in strength and conditioning from 2008-2011. Schmidt was head coach at Eastern New Mexico from 2013 to 2015 as well as assistant athletic director for compliance and sports information. She is currently enrolled as a full-time BSN nursing student.

She was also involved at CSP as a homecoming committee member, was active with Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) and was a volunteer and student athletic trainer.

Schmidt was inducted into the Concordia-St. Paul Hall of Fame in 2016. She has also been honored as a Minnesota High School Hall of Fame member, Park High School Hall of Fame member, was named to Minnesota's Top 100 athletes in the last 100 years and was a member of the NSIC 25th Anniversary Top 25 team.

Schmidt is married to former Concordia defensive coordinator and strength & conditioning coach Oliver Soukup. They have two sons, Kooper and Chance.