INDIANAPOLIS - IU Indianapolis women's soccer player Emma Frey has been awarded this year's annual Michael A. Carroll Scholarship, as chosen by the administrative staff.

" There's few people in our 268 student athletes who work harder than Emma Frey," IU Indy Athletic Director Luke Bosso says. "There may be some people who work as hard as Emma Frey, but there's nobody who works harder …She's such an impressive young woman and somebody who we would love to model all our athletes after."

A Cincinnati-native, Frey lost her second season as a Jaguar to an ACL tear but has scored seven goals and dished out seven assists across 38 starts in her two seasons on the field. She also recently won the Iron Jaguar award for her dedication to the weight room.

Frey will have a new coach for the upcoming season in Angela Berry White. White comes across town after a very successful run in the high school ranks at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School. White, who also brings playing experience on the U.S. Women's National Team to her coaching and has been impressed with Frey so far.

"What you have from her both on the field but also as she navigates off the field," White says about Frey, "she's like a born leader. She really is. And I say that because she leads totally by example. Every coach would love to have a team full of Emma's because she lifts everybody up by her work rate, by holding people accountable…She can totally motivate by her actions. And then people don't want to let her down…because how hard she does works.  And I love that because you can't teach that."

Frey is known around campus by more than one person as the player who landed on ESPN SportsCenter's Top Ten Plays not once, but two weeks in a row during the 2024 season. The first of those two plays was on a tricky set piece from 25 yards out. After a decoy was sent to the left side of the field on the play, Frey came out of her spot on the left side of a three-player, offensive "wall," and teammate Cassie Rodriguez flicked the ball back to her. With perfect timing, Frey set her feet for a 180 degree move and one time-timed it to the upper left corner.

" I don't really have words to describe what that was like at all," Frey said about the plays that led to the attention from ESPN...I have to give a lot of thanks to, like, my team and my coaches for that one because without them…the play doesn't happen. The play doesn't get written up, it doesn't actually get played out...I may have been the one to score the goal, but…I feel like it was more of a team thing than just me…it is something…I will forever think about and cherish that that even happened."

The Carroll Scholarship doesn't just reward athletic success; it is also for academic accomplishment and community involvement. Frey, who is a senior exercise science major carries a 3.79 GPA and enjoys volunteering at soccer programs for kids and city clean-up efforts.

"(Volunteering) is something that can be really impactful for everyone," Frey says, "because you see so many different things...It's not just to help you, but it's to help everyone else.  It makes you feel good, but like you get to see a lot more out of everyone else, and it's just a positive environment.

It is a fitting perspective for someone who will now be connected to the same namesake as is also attached to IU Indy's soccer stadium. Carroll served as deputy mayor of Indianapolis during the 1970s and later held the post of Vice President of Community Development at the Lily Endowment. He was only 51 years old when he and three other prominent Indianapolis leaders lost their lives in a tragic collision between two private planes. The group had been on their way to a meeting in Columbus, Ohio, to discuss development ideas for White River Park.

Here's how the Indianapolis Star described the impact Carroll and the other three men who died on September 11, 1992: "There was no way to quantify their impact on the city: the Hoosier Dome, the Colts, saving Cathedral High School, rebuilding the reputation of the Hoosier Lottery, right-hand men to politicians Lugar, Hudnut and Dan Quayle. The Indianapolis Tennis Center, IUPUI athletics, Indiana Sports Corp., White River State Park. A new Indianapolis Zoo."

Bosso's family has its own memory of Carroll.  "My grandfather was a disabled war veteran," he says. "And when Mayor Hudnut wasn't taking my grandfather to work, Mike Carroll would pick him up."

When endowment funds for the Carroll Scholarship were recently in need of replenishing, it was friends of Carroll's who took up the charge to make sure IU Indy athletes continue to be awarded in his name.

Steve Brinegar was one of those people.  "What Mike did in life from the time that I met him in 1970," he says, "was his life was devoted to service to his family, to his church community, and his friends. That basically were Mike Carroll in a nutshell."

Frey now joins a network of 27 previous Carroll Scholarship winners.

Click here to see all the winners of the IU Indy Michael A. Carroll Scholarship.