Thursday, December 26, 2024

It was another great fall season of collegiate soccer in the region thanks in part to a number of alumni from the club.

REST OF THE NW Edition – A look through the GNAC and Cascade Conference alumni.

Leading the way in fine fashion yet again is goalkeeper Mercedes Cullen, an All-GNAC Honorable Mention selection this year. She started all 17 games, allowing 19 goals and recording four shutouts as Seattle Pacific went 7-1-6 in conference. It is the third consecutive All-GNAC honor for the junior.

Elsewhere in the GNAC Kye Welch made eight appearances as a freshman for the 5-4-3 Northwest Nazarene men.

At Eastern Oregon the ladies advanced to the Cascade Conference postseason with a third-place finish at 8-3-1 thanks in part to the duo of junior Kaydence Martinez, who tallied two goals in 12 games and defender Sienna Newhouse, who made five appearances as a freshman.

Elsewhere in the CCC womens action sophomore Addison Litscher tallied an assist in seven appearances for Carroll and Kate Pomerinke started 10 games in goal for Warner Pacific, allowing 19 goals.

On the men’s side junior Michael Kot started 17 games in goal for Northwest U as they went 4-4-5 in conference.

SOUTHWEST Edition – We take a quick glance at southwestern states, where a number of players had some excellent seasons.

We lead things off at Utah Tech where Bre Koscielski is quickly making a name for herself. After starting all 17 games and tallying three goals and two assists she was named to the WAC’s All-Freshman Team. Teammate Kyah Le also had a good junior season with a goal and three assists in 17 starts.

In Arizona a pair of sophomores continue to perform well at their respective programs. Ella Carnahan helped lead Embry-Riddle AU to the GSAC Regular Season and Tournament championships with four goals and two assists. Cadence Peroff is also a regular contributor for Arizona Christian with three goals and two assists.

In Nevada Bryce Allred continues to play a role for the Runnin Rebels, tallying a goal and assist for UNLV in 14 appearances.

AROUND THE NATION Edition – A check-in from the alumni from around the nation, including the Cali trio that advanced to the NCAA DII Tournament.

Shadow players took the limelight in the PacWest, where a trio of players ultimately advanced to the DII Tournament. Zoe Crockett transitioned to a centerback role this year and proved to be a dominant force, starting 21 games and also providing three goals and an assist for the Sea Lions, who won the PacWest for a second consecutive season (fifth in last six years) at 10-1-0 (17-3-1 overall) and won the first edition of the conference tourney thanks to a super late second half equalizer from Crockett en route to an overtime win that sent them back to the NCAA DII Tournament. For her efforts, the newly forged defender was honored as the Most Outstanding Defensive Player of the PacWest Tourney. The Sea Lions opened the NCAA DII run with a 2-1 win over GNAC tournament champion Simon Fraser and then topped 22nd ranked Hawaii Hilo by the same score before falling 2-1 in the West Region Final in overtime to fourth-ranked Cal Poly Pomona in which she set up the equalizer.

The duo of senior Donovan Howat and junior Alex Reyes helped lead Westmont to postseason success. Howat started 20 games at midfield and Reyes saw action in 13 (with an assist) as the Warriors went 7-3-1 for a second-place regular season finish en route to the PacWest Tournament championship before a heartbreaking first round exit of the DII tourney 2-1 to Cal Poly Pomona.

Elsewhere in Cali senior defender Alaina O’Connell started 17 games for CSU San Bernadino, who went 4-4-3 in conference.

Heading east we check in on a few others…

In Kansas sophomore Lizzy Gresch played in 11 games and tallied a goal for Benedictine, which finished second in Heart Conference. They advanced to the conference final before falling but earned an at-large berth to the NAIA National Tournament.

In the midwest sophomore keeper Peyton Dixon had another good season for Grinnell College in Iowa, starting 15 games with 20 goals allowed six shutouts and a 7-5-3 record in goal as they went 5-2-1 in conference before seeing the season end in the conference semifinal. In Illinois Timmy Jones had an excellent junior campaign, starting 17 games with two goals and two assist for Wheaton College, which went 6-2-0 in conference only to the season cut short 1-0 in the semifinal.

Down in Louisiana Alexa Deatherage saw action in 15 games with an assist for Nicholls State and up in the northeast freshman Alexa Sheppard saw action in six games at Bowdoin College in Maine.

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