Wisconsin Soccer Central

State players collected several individual awards Tuesday as the first college women's soccer all-conference teams of the season were announced.

UW-Milwaukee dominated the Horizon League honors: Senior forward Sarah Hagen (Appleton North) was named the league's Player of the Year for a record third consecutive season and was the Offensive Player of the Year, junior goalkeeper Jamie Forbes was the co-Defensive Player of the Year and Goalkeeper of the Year, freshman defender Amy Kauffung (Hartland Arrowhead) was the Newcomer of the Year and Michael Moynihan was the Coach of the Year.

Hagen and Forbes were first-team selections on the All-Horizon team along with senior Keara Thompson and junior Helen Steinhauser, both midfielders.

Kauffung and senior defenders Makenzie Gillaspie and Mary Wandolowski made the second team, while Kauffung, freshman forward Emily Scott and freshman midfielder Kelsey Holbert claimed spots on the All-Newcomer team.

Hagen, who holds nearly every league record for goals and points in a season and a career, is the 10th player in Horizon history named to the first team all four years. Forbes conceded just two goals in nearly 620 minutes of league play this season for a 0.29 goals-against average. Thompson, a second-team pick last fall, has 11 assists this season, which ranks fifth in UWM history.

Moynihan, a former University of Wisconsin athlete, collected his eighth coach of the year award in his 15th season.

UW-Green Bay senior midfielder Corey Arno (Winneconne) was a second-team All-Horizon pick after her efforts on the backline for the Phoenix, who allowed just 16 goals over its first 17 matches. Loyola (Ill.) freshman defender Valerie Gonyo (Waukesha Catholic Memorial) made the All-Newcomer team – she played all 19 matches for the Ramblers at center back and ranked second on the team with two goals.

Meanwhile, UW senior Michele Dalton was the inaugural recipient of the Big Ten Conference Goalkeeper of the Year award.

Dalton, who has a 0.91 goals-against average, an .825 save percentage and six shutouts this season, is the third player in program history named to the first team of the All-Big Ten team as a goalkeeper – following Ursula McKnight (1994) and Julie Johnson (1996).

UW junior defender Lindsey Johnson (Mequon Homestead) was a second-team All-Big Ten selection. She has one goal and four assists and plays a key role in the Badgers' attack with her long flip throw-ins in addition to her defensive responsibilities.

Forward Cara Walls (Wauwatosa East), who leads UW with nine goals, earned a spot on the Big Ten All-Freshman team, the fourth straight season the Badgers have had a player on the squad. Walls' goal total is the most for a UW freshman since Allison Wagner also had nine in 1997.

Julia Roddar, a freshman midfielder from Sweden who has played in all 19 matches, was the Badgers' Sportsmanship Award honoree.

Honor roll

Hagen claimed the final Horizon League Player of the Week award of the season, ending her career with a record 15 weekly honors – nine more than any other women's soccer player in conference history.

Hagen, who had a hat trick in the Panthers' 7-0 rout of Green Bay in Friday's regular-season finale, also was named to the TopDrawerSoccer.com National Team of the Week.

• Junior forward Katie Richter (Waukesha West) was the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women's offensive player of the week after scoring the final two goals in UW-Eau Claire's 3-2 win over UW-Stout last Wednesday. UW-La Crosse senior defender Jamie Wiepz (Stoughton), who helped the Eagles blank Stout 1-0 to clinch second place in the WIAC, was the defensive honoree.
• UW-Oshkosh swept the WIAC men's weekly awards. Sophomore forward Ryan Hanna (Verona) collected the offensive honor, as he set up the lone goal in a 1-0 victory over UW-Superior on Saturday that clinched the Titans' 27th consecutive winning season, then scored the first two goals as Oshkosh thumped Finlandia 7-0 on Sunday. The defensive award went to senior defender Will Chaney (Cedarburg), who anchored a Titans backline that allowed eight shots to the Yellowjackets and none to the Lions in the back-to-back shutouts.
• Milwaukee School of Engineering junior goalkeeper Emma Lumpe was the Northern Athletics Conference women's player of the week in the wake of a perfect week – she made seven saves as the Raiders handed regular-season champion Aurora its only NAC loss of the season 1-0 on Wednesday, then stopped four shots in Sunday's 1-0 victory over Concordia (Wis.) in the first round of the NAC tournament.
• Senior midfielder Tom Slusher, who scored twice in the final 5 minutes as Beloit College rallied for a 2-1 victory over host Monmouth on Saturday, was named the Midwest Conference men's offensive player of the week. The win gave the Buccaneers a berth in the MWC tournament.
• The MWC women's defensive player of the week award went to St. Norbert sophomore defender Zoe Kurth, who anchored a defense that blanked Carroll 2-0 and scored the Green Knights' second goal on a header off a corner kick. In a rare development, the conference did not award an offensive honoree.
• Carthage senior defender Zak Khoshbin was named the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin men's defensive player of the week after the Red Men beat then-No. 13 North Park (Ill.) 1-0 on Wednesday and knocked off Illinois Wesleyan 3-2 in overtime Saturday to win the outright CCIW regular-season title.
• Cardinal Stritch senior forward Ben Allen, one of the NAIA's leading scorers, was named the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference men's offensive player of the week. The Englishman had three goals last week as the Wolves won twice to qualify for the CCAC tournament. He ranks fifth in the country among NAIA players with 20 goals, is tied for sixth in point (44), eighth in goals per game (1.11) and 12th in points per game (2.44).
• Senior midfielder Kristen Benson, who scored the game-winners in both of UW-Parkside's wins last week, was lauded as the Great Lakes Valley Conference women's player of the week. Becker had an overtime goal in a 3-2 victory over Lewis (Ill.) last Wednesday, then scored the first goal in Sunday's 2-0 triumph over Southern Indiana in a GLVC quarterfinal. The two goals matched her season total coming into the weekend.

Tournament time

The Big Ten Conference women's tournament returns after a two-year absence Wednesday, with eight teams set for the quarterfinals in Evanston, Ill.

Fourth-seeded UW (10-6-3) faces Border Battle rival Minnesota (8-9-2), seeded fifth, in the last game of the day at 7:30 p.m. The teams played to a 2-2 draw back on Sept. 29 on a windy, rainy night at the McClimon Complex.

One Big Ten media member predicts the Badgers to get past the Golden Gophers and top-seeded Penn State in Friday's semifinals and advance to Sunday's final.

• Top-seeded UW-Milwaukee (16-2-0) will play No. 6 seed Butler (8-9-2) in the semifinals of the Horizon League tournament on Friday night at Engelmann Stadium, after the Bulldogs knocked off third-seeded Valparaiso 5-4 on penalty kicks after a 2-2 tie in a quarterfinal match Tuesday. The first semifinal pits No. 2 seed Detroit (12-5-2) against fifth-seeded Wright State (9-7-3) at 4 p.m., and the final is set for 1 p.m. Sunday.
• Marquette will be watching the first round of the Big East Conference men's tournament with interest Thursday, most notably the matchup between Providence (10-6-1) and host Louisville (10-5-2) – the winner will take on the Golden Eagles in a quarterfinal at 1:05 p.m. Sunday at Valley Fields.
• The UW-Parkside women's team (12-2-2) travels to Highland Heights, Ky., this weekend for the GLVC tournament. The third-seeded Rangers (12-2-2) take on No. 2 seed Bellarmine, Ky. (14-2-2) at 6:30 p.m. Friday in the semifinals, looking to advance to Sunday's final at noon. Parkside has won the event four times, behind only top-seeded and tournament host Northern Kentucky, which has seven titles to its name.
• UW-Stevens Point, the perennial WIAC powerhouse that needed to win its conference finale to qualify for the conference tournament, advanced to the semifinals with a 1-0 victory over third-seeded UW-Stout in a quarterfinal Tuesday in Menomonie. Sammy Greer (Hartford) scored her team-best 10th goal of the season in the 72nd minute and fellow junior Brittany Marx (Ashland) stopped all seven shots she faced as the sixth-seeded Pointers (11-7-0) advanced to play at No. 1 seed UW-Whitewater (12-4-1) at 6 p.m. Thursday. In the other quarterfinal, senior defender Kelsey Spaith (Madison Memorial) scored in the 87th minute to tie it and senior Brittany Walder (Waukesha West) stopped seven shots and saved two penalty kicks as third-seeded UW-Oshkosh (11-6-2) outlasted No. 4 seed UW-Eau Claire 3-2 on penalties following a 1-1 draw. The Titans play at second-seeded UW-La Crosse (11-4-2) at 2 p.m. Thursday.
• Junior Mat Braden and senior Dan Hosko scored in a 6-minute span in the first half as third-seeded Milwaukee School of Engineering upended No. 2 Concordia 2-0 in a semifinal of the NAC men's tournament in Mequon. Braden scored his first goal of the season in the 29th minute and Hosko doubled the lead with his 11th of the year in the 35, and freshman keeper Garrett Farin (Madison East) made six saves in his third shutout. The Raiders (12-7-1) play top-seeded Dominican (17-2-0) in the final at 1 p.m. Saturday in River Forest, Ill. – the Stars beat MSOE 1-0 to win the tournament last year and are unbeaten in their past 73 matches against NAC competition.
• The NAC women's tournament semifinals are Wednesday, with fourth-seeded MSOE (13-7-0) playing at No. 1 seed Aurora (16-4-0) at 1 p.m. and third-seeded Edgewood College (14-4-1) at No. 2 seed Marian (12-6-0) at 3 p.m. Both of the road teams beat their semifinal opponents during the regular season. The winners will play for the tournament title and an automatic NCAA Division III tournament berth on Saturday.
• Both Midwest Conference tournaments will be held in Wisconsin. Carroll (8-7-2) is the top seed and host for the men's tournament and opens against No. 4 seed Lake Forest (13-2-3) at 11 a.m. Friday, followed by No. 2 seed Lawrence (7-8-2) taking on third-seeded Beloit College (8-6-2) at 1:30 p.m. Meanwhile, at the women's tournament in De Pere, top-seeded and host St. Norbert (10-7-1) faces fourth-seeded Lawrence (5-3-1) at 2 p.m., after second-seeded Carroll (9-8-1) plays No. 3 seed Grinnell (7-1-1) in the first semifinal at 11 a.m. Both finals are set for noon Saturday, with the winners earning automatic NCAA berths.
• Carthage (12-5-2), the top seed for the CCIW men's tournament, plays host to fourth-seeded Elmhurst, Ill. (8-6-4) in a semifinal at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Kenosha. The winner will play No. 2 seed North Park (10-2-3) or third-seeded Wheaton, Ill. (10-7-2) in Saturday's final. The Red Men have qualified for the four-team playoffs nine times in the event's 10-year history, but only have advanced to the final once, in 2008.
• Cardinal Stritch (10-7-1) claimed the seventh and final spot in the CCAC men's tournament and will play defending tournament champion and No. 2 seed St. Xavier, Ill. (10-8-0) in a quarterfinal match at 7 p.m. Saturday. The Wolves, who have won their past four matches, lost to St. Xavier 4-1 on Oct. 4.
• Fifth-seeded Viterbo (8-7-4) plays at top-seeded Mount Mercy in the semifinals of the Midwest Collegiate Conference men's tournament at 1 p.m. Sunday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The V-Hawks, who lost to the Mustangs 2-1 on Oct. 15, got past Clarke (Iowa) 4-2 on penalty kicks after a 0-0 tie in the quarterfinals last Sunday in Dubuque, Iowa. Sophomore keeper Luke Newton stopped six shots in 110 minutes, then saved the first two penalties in the shootout.
• Northland International (8-7-1) is seeded seventh out of the eight teams headed to the National Christian College Athletic Association Division II women's tournament next week in Kissimmee, Fla. The Pioneers, who ousted Maranatha Baptist 4-1 on penalty kicks following a 0-0 tie in the Midwest Regional final lat Saturday in Dunbar, open play against second-seeded Point, Ga. (12-5-1) on Nov. 9 and also will play Nov. 10 and 12. The matches will be streamed live online for free on the Christian College Sports Sports Network.

Polling place

Marquette (9-7-2) just missed making the National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll, receiving the most votes of any team not ranked.

The Golden Eagles earned 32 votes, while Providence and South Carolina shared the 25th spot with 35 votes apiece.

• Marquette is eighth in the NSCAA Great Lakes Region poll, while UW (8-7-2) is 10th and UW-Green Bay (9-6-1) also received votes.
• The Badgers continue to lead the four state men's teams in the NCAA's Ratings Percentage Index at No. 40. Marquette is 58th, Green Bay is 88th and UW-Milwaukee is 154th out of the nation's 203 programs.
• In Division III men, Carthage is fourth in the Central Region and WIAC rivals UW-Whitewater (11-7-0), UW-Oshkosh (10-5-2) and UW-Superior (11-6-2) are fifth, seventh and ninth in the North Region.
• UW-Parkside returned to the NSCAA Division II women's poll at No. 25 – the Rangers had been receiving votes – and is ranked fourth in the Midwest Region.
• UW-Whitewater was among others receiving votes in the NSCAA Division III poll and is fourth in the North Region rankings, which also include No. 6 UW-Eau Claire and No. 9 UW-Stout. UW-La Crosse received votes in the regional poll.
• Marquette (17-3-0) fell five spots to No. 10 in the NSCAA Division I poll after dropping a 1-0 decision to Notre Dame, while UWM remained 15th. The Golden Eagles kept hold of the top spot in the Northeast Region rankings, while the Panthers are second and UW is seventh in the Great Lakes.
• In the other national polls, Marquette dropped four places to No. 13 and UWM improved three spots to 15th in the Soccer America Top 25; the Golden Eagles fell three places to 12th and the Panthers remained No. 16 in the Soccer Times coaches' poll; and Marquette moved down two spots to No. 10 and UWM slipped two places to 22nd in the Our Game Magazine rankings. Marquette is sixth, UWM is 14th and UW is 48th in the TopDrawerSoccer.com Tournament 64, which is meant to simulate the NCAA tournament field.

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