Wisconsin Soccer Central

A pair of Wisconsin natives feature prominently in the two major NCAA Division II All-American soccer teams.

Regis (Colo.) senior defender Taylor Diem(Middleton) was named to the first team of the Daktronics men's team and the second team of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America team.

Grand Valley State (Mich.) senior forward Ashley Botts (Beloit), meanwhile, was a first-team selection on the NSCAA team for the third consecutive year and was a second-team choice on the Daktronics team.

Diem had two goals and four assists and anchored a backline that allowed 1.04 goals per game for the Rangers (17-2-1), who went 14-0-0 in winning the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and were ranked first in the NSCAA national poll for three weeks. He was the RMAC Defensive Player of the Year and a first-team, All-South Central Region pick on the NSCAA team and the Daktronics team, which was selected by a nationwide panel of sports information directors.

Botts, who went to high school in Rockford, Ill., had 18 goals and five assists as the Lakers (20-2-3) advanced to the national final – she scored the lone goal as Grand Valley fell to UC San Diego 2-1 in the title game. Botts finished her career with 67 goals and 29 assists in 95 matches and is tied for first in program history with 25 game-winning goals.

UW-Parkside senior defender Lauki'i Cheng made the third team of the NSCAA All-American team, becoming the first Rangers player to earn such an honor twice – she also was a third-team pick as a freshman in 2008.

Cheng was central to a defense that yielded eight goals and posted eight shutouts in 14 Great Lakes Valley Conference matches, and added a goal and four assists in helping Parkside advance to the third round of the NCAA tournament.

Botts and Cheng were first-team choices on the NSCAA All-Midwest Region team, which featured four other state players: Bellarmine (Ky.) senior goalkeeper Amy Kunowski(Greendale) made the second team, while the Michigan Tech junior trio of defendersKaitlyn Boelter (Shawano) and Melanie Hoffman (Pulaski) and midfielder Lindsey Van Rooy (Kaukauna) earned spots on the third team.

NAIA

Freshman Molly Machometa and junior Steph Wisen (Wisconsin Rapids), Viterbo's high-scoring strike partners, each claimed honorable mention on the NAIA All-American team.

Machometa scored a program-record 31 goals – tied for second in the nation – and added nine assists in 19 matches, and led the country with an average of 3.94 points per game. Wisen set school records for assists in a season (16) and career (28) and also scored 12 goals as she was an honorable mention All-American for the second time.