Round-Up: Alumni Excel Yet Again in 2022 College Season

Thursday, December 15, 2022

Another year, another fantastic season for Spokane Sounders alumni in the collegiate ranks. The 2022 season saw 17 players earn postseason recognition in their respective leagues with four earning All-Region honors as well.

Let’s kick things off with a player that reached the pinnacle with her team – Alexa Deatherage. The CC Spokane midfielder ran the show for the Bigfoot and led the team to the postseason as the second seed from the East with their only two losses on the year coming at the hands of champion Columbia Basin. During the regular season she netted 10 goals to finish second in the East and eighth overall in the NWAC, earning All-Star honors. The playoffs were a fresh start and after an opening round win at home they stunned fellow powerhouse Peninsula on the road in the second round to reach the NWAC Final Four. Deatherage led the Sasquatch to the NWAC Championship along with fellow club alumni Delaney LaMotte, Aubrey Thomas and Gracie Reidt, scoring three goals in the Final Four to garner Championship MVP recognition.

Also making a fantastic run in the postseason was Jake Levine, who helped guide Northwest Nazarene to the NCAA Division II Quarterfinals with a series of upset victories that included a win over the defending national champions and a final program-record national rank of sixth. Levine finished his collegiate career with an outstanding campaign, tallying eight goals on the year, making him the career leader at NNU. His season, which included an Offensive Player of the Week nod, led to a GNAC Second Team selection at the conclusion of the season and he was later also named All-Region Second Team by both the United Soccer Coaches and Conference Commissioner’s Association.

Also earning DII All-Region honors were fellow GNAC players Marissa Bankey and Chloe Gellhaus of Seattle Pacific and Taryn Baxter at Mercyhurst.

The SPU duo were GNAC First Team selections in their final campaigns with Bankey tallying four goals and two assists and Gellhaus providing three goals and three assists. The All-Region First Team honor was the first for Bankey in her career while Gellhaus was previously a First Team selection as a freshman before receiving Second Team recognition this year. Teammate Mercedes Cullen was also among the postseason award winners with GNAC Honorable Mention honors following a season that saw her kick off her freshman campaign with Defensive Player of the Week & Freshman of the Week honors for shutouts in her first two starts.

Baxter had another brilliant campaign leading the Mercyhurst back line, earning the PSAC Western Division Defensive Athlete of the Year and a spot on the PSAC Western Division First Team for the third time. She was later named to the CCA All-Region First Team. During the campaign she was named Player of the Week for a weekend in which she tallied two goals and an assist in the midst of a six-game shutout streak.

Before we move on from DII, also earning All-League recognition out of the GNAC were Kailynn LaBrosse and Bryan Maxwell; and taking honors in the PacWest was Zoe Crockett. LaBrosse was a First Team choice out of NNU for leading a defense that was phenominal on the year with a 0.61 GAA that included 10 shutouts and a 944-minute shutout streak. Maxwell was honored on the Honorable Mention list for the second time to wrap up his career at MSU Billings. Crockett opened eyes in her debut Point Loma campaign, earning PacWest Freshman of the Year and PacWest Second Team recognition for tallying six goals and four assists in a season that included a PacWest Player of the Week nod.

Another outstanding defensive performance this year was provided by Cole Dobson at Pacific Lutheran, which allowed just 18 goals in 21 matches to win the DIII Northwest Conference. Dobson was named the NWC Defender of the Year and honored on the NWC First Team.

Also earning NWC honors were a pair of Whitworth women’s players, Maggie Ames and Baylee Trejo. A defensive leader, Ames was named Second Team after finishing with two goals and Trejo was an Honorable Mention with three goals and two assists on the year.

Rounding out the All-Conference honors among the lower divisions were the Cascade Collegiate Conference goalkeeping pair of Dalton Mauzay (Eastern Oregon) and freshman Kate Pomerinke (Warner Pacific), who were named Honorable Mention.

In Division I, Idaho and Washington were the two brightest spots.

The Vandal duo of Margo Schoesler (Second Team) and Maddy Lasher (Honorable Mention) proved a daunting tandem in the Big Sky. Lasher finished as the leading scorer with four goals and four assists while Schoesler was not far behind at three goals and an assist as they led Idaho to a 6-2 conference record (13-3-3 overall) before coming up short of the NCAA tournament with a penalty kick defeat in a scoreless championship final. Schoesler would earn a spot on the All-Tournament Team for her play, which included the 1-0 game-winner against Montana (a repeat from the season) in the semifinals. The pair were also Offensive Player of the Week selections during the season.

At Washington, sophomore keeper Jadon Bowton showed some promise for the future. When the top-ranked Huskies lost their starter to injury midseason, Bowton stepped forward for his first career start against fifth-ranked Stanford and helped lead them to a shutout victory, adding another clean sheet later in the week against Cal as well. A performance that may have garnered weekly honors if the Pac-12 had split offensive and defensive awards. Bowton went on to start four more games in relief, finishing with an unbeaten 4-0-2 record and three shutouts. Combined with his four early-season appearances off the bench, Bowton finished the year with a 0.81 GAA.

A couple other players that made headlines this season include:

Adam Jones (Biola) – Earned PacWest Player of the Week honors for tallying two goals and an assist off the bench in a pair of road wins.

Erin Ewers (Colorado College) – Named Mountain West Offensive Player of the Week / Freshman of the Week for tallying two goals in a 3-1 win.

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