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2010 Women Soccer All-League Teams and Major Awards Announced
Nov. 2, 2010
Center Valley, Pa. – The Patriot League announced its All-League teams and major award winners in the sport of women’s soccer Tuesday afternoon, with 17 of the 24 student-athletes honored set to appear in the upcoming League tournament beginning Friday at the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. Tournament host Army tied with Lehigh for the most student-athletes honored with five each, while postseason participants Bucknell and Colgate had four and three players, respectively, on the All-League team. American, Lafayette and Navy each placed two on the team, while Holy Cross features one. Because of ties in voting, both the First and Second Teams are comprised of 12 student-athletes instead of the standard 11 each. Army also led the way capturing three major awards, with freshman Molly McGuigan earning Defensive Player of the Year, midfielder Kim An being named Rookie of the Year and second-year head coach Stefanie Golan earning Coach of the Year honors. Bucknell senior Christa Matlack was named Offensive Player of the Year for the second straight season, while Lafayette sophomore Lauren Smedley earned Goalkeeper of the Year honors. Matlack earned Offensive Player of the Year laurels for the second year in a row, becoming the second student-athlete from Bucknell to be a repeat winner of that award. Former Bison Jennifer Dervarics earned the same accolade in 2007 and again in 2008. Matlack is the fifth student-athlete in the 21-year history of Patriot League women’s soccer to earn the honor twice and the fourth since the 2001 season. She enters the postseason second in the League with seven goals and third with 17 points. In League play, she scored three goals and added two assists for eight points. 2010 marks the first time a player from the same institution has been named Offensive Player of the Year four years running. After taking three games to get acclimated during her freshman campaign, An came on strong and posted a two-goal, one assist performance in Army’s 3-0 victory over Quinnipiac Sept. 3. She didn’t look back after that en route to posting League-bests of nine goals and 20 points during the season. She is Army’s fourth Rookie of the Year overall and first since Delaney Brown in 2002. Like An, McGuigan made her presence known early for the Black Knights when she was named the year’s second BRINE/Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week in September. McGuigan’s efforts on Army’s backline log a League-high 15 shutouts this season while surrendering a League-low five goals in 19 matches all year. McGuigan earned First-Team All-League status along with fellow Black Knight defender Julia Stallard. As a team, Army has allowed just one goal in its last eight matches and has surrendered more than one tally in only one match this season (2-1 loss to Brown, Sept. 15). Smedley was sensational in goal for Lafayette, earning First-Team All-League laurels along with the Goalkeeper of the Year award. She helped the Leopards post six victories this season, the most the program has managed since winning eight games in 2002. Just a sophomore, she already owns a school-record 11 career shutouts after blanking a program-best eight opponents this season. She played every minute of Lafayette’s 18 contests while making a League-best 113 saves and posting a 0.83 goals-against average and .876 save percentage. Stefanie Golan, in her second season as the head coach at Army since taking over for the legendary Gene Vetriglia, was voted by her peers as Coach of the Year. It’s the second time in the last three seasons Army’s skipper has earned the award, as Vetriglia won the award for a record sixth time after the 2008 season. Golan’s club finished the regular season 13-3-3 after a 7-10-2 campaign in 2009 and is riding an eight-match unbeaten streak (5-0-3) heading into the Patriot League tournament. In addition to McGuigan, An and Stallard on the First Team, Army also saw midfielder Carlie Turnnidge and goalkeeper Alex Lostetter voted Second-Team All-League. Lostetter collected 10 shutouts in net for Army in helping her team claim a share of the regular season championship and the tournament’s top seed. She now has 30 career clean sheets, which places her in sole possession of second place on the League’s all-time list. She is one shy of Kelly Tyrell’s record of 31, which she set playing for Colgate from 1996-99. Lehigh’s All-League honorees were almost evenly split, with two making the First Team while the other three earned Second-Team accolades. Liz Carlos and Jana Basubas were voted to the First Team after posting impressive seasons for the Mountain Hawks. Carlos finished in a sixth-place tie in the League with 14 points with teammate and Second-Team honoree Glynn Fitzer, while Basubas pitched in nine points (4g, 1a) from her position at midfield. Lehigh’s Genna Pepe and Ardyn Olzsko also earned All-League laurels with spots on the Second Team at defender. Pepe, a junior, notched five of her six points on the year during League play, while the sophomore Olzsko was a defensive stalwart for the Mountain Hawks appearing in 15 of her team’s 17 games. Bucknell, which is making its sixth consecutive appearance in the Patriot League Tournament, had four players earn All-League status. Senior midfielder Caitlin Holtz joined Matlack as a First-Team honoree, while Kelsey Johnson and Kelliann Doherty earned Second-Team laurels. Holtz and Doherty finished second and third on the Bison with 11 points and 10, respectively, behind Matlack’s 17. Johnson was recognized for her role on defense for Bucknell, an aspect of the game that improved as the Bison went further along with their season. After surrendering 26 goals in its first 11 contests, Bucknell has allowed only eight in its last eight matches, going 6-2-0 during that stretch and 5-2-0 against League opponents. Colgate finished with three players earning All-League status this season, with two of the three making the First Team. Senior Calista Victor is making her third trip to the League tournament in 2010 and was an All-Tournament Team honoree each of the last two years. In addition, this is her second consecutive appearance on the First Team and her third overall All-League honor. She’s joined by sophomore Jillian Kinter, who finished with a team-high six goals and was second on the Raiders with 12 points this season. Kinter was a Second-Team member last season. Another Raider sophomore, Alyssa Manoogian, finished the regular season in a third-place tie in the League standings with five assists. She was voted to the Second Team this season. American features two players earning All-League status, including last year’s Defensive Player of the Year and this year’s preseason pick for that award in senior Freiderike Engel. She becomes American’s second four-time All-League selection, with Annette Scott being the other (2004-07), and is the first student-athlete to be named to the First Team all four years since Lehigh’s Gina Lewandowski from 2003-06. Teammate Brooke Sheppard was the second Eagle to make the All-Patriot League team in 2010, earning a spot on the Second Team at the midfielder position. Navy placed two onto the Second Team, with senior Carissa Youker and freshman Paloma Perez each earning spots as attackers. Youker led the Mids and finished second in the League with 18 points, while the rookie Perez posted five goals and two assists for 12 points this season. This year marks Youker’s third consecutive appearance on the All-League team, as she earned Second-Team laurels in each of the last two seasons. In addition to Smedley, Lafayette placed a second player onto the All-League team with freshman Avery Jackson earning a spot on the Second Team. Jackson played all 18 games for the Leopards, spearheading a defense that surrendered 0.89 goals per contest, which was second in the League behind Army’s 0.26. Smedley is the first Leopard to earn First-Team honors since 2002, while Jackson is the first to make the Second Team since 2003. Holy Cross placed one player on the All-League team, with Shelby Stand earning the third First-Team accolade of her career. The senior was near the top of the League leaderboard in goals and points most of the season. She is the current League leader with 1.23 points per game despite having missed the last four games of the season due to injury. The Patriot League Tournament begins Friday when top seed and host Army entertains No. 4 Colgate at 4 p.m. in the first semifinal of the day. No. 2 Bucknell and third-seeded Lehigh will take the pitch opposite one another in the night cap slated for 7:30 p.m. The winners of the two semifinal contests will play each other Sunday at 1 p.m. for the 2010 Patriot League Championship and automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. 2010 Women’s Soccer All-Patriot League Team First Team Second Team Offensive Player of the Year Christa Matlack, Bucknell
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