Lexington’s Nandi Mehta Shines as Soccer Star

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LEXINGTON, MA– Senior co-captain Nandi Mehta of the Northwestern University women’s soccer team has become a shining star in college soccer and one of the nation’s top student-athletes.

Mehta, who was born and raised in Lexington, MA, and whose parents live in this historic town, was recently named to the 2015 CoSIDA Academic All-District Five Women’s Soccer Second Team. In order to be selected for a CoSIDA Academic All-District Team, student-athletes must maintain a grade point average of 3.3, or higher, and be a starter or key reserve.

While not many Indian-Americans, especially girls, pursue sports, Mehta told INDIA New England News that a combination of academic and sports can be very fulfilling.

“Soccer has helped me grow in many ways—as an athlete and as an student,” said Mehta, who has been playing soccer since she was four years old.

Mehta, who is graduating this summer with a degree in Economics and International Studies from Northwestern University, will return to the university this fall to play her final season of soccer.

“I have one more season of soccer,” said Mehta, who does not want to pursue soccer as professional career.

“I want to travel. I want to go abroad,” Mehta said. “I don’t plan to play professionally.”

Lexington Minuteman reported that Mehta boasts a 3.98 grade point average and tallied two game-winning goals this season for the #B1GCats. Her most notable performance of 2015 came in September when the senior shocked a fierce opponent in then-No. 11 Rutgers with a 93rd-minute golden goal.

One of two co-captains, Mehta appeared in 60 games for the Purple and White, and has registered nine points (3g, 3a) during her tenure in Evanston, according to Lexington Minuteman. Last year, Mehta was chosen as one of five junior Northwestern student-athlete winners of the NU For Life Irving Kabiller Memorial Award for Excellence in Character, Commitment, and Community. As a winner, she received a $5,000 grant for her own professional development and she used it to attend the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in February and, over the summer, to work with a faculty member at the University of Geneva in Switzerland on reforming medical policy, the newspaper said.

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