HL Announces Women's Soccer Award Winners

INDIANAPOLIS -- Milwaukee junior Kelly Lewers has been named the Horizon League Women’s Soccer Player of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year, while Wright State junior Allie Metzler earned Defensive Player of the Year accolades. Valparaiso’s Morgan Manzke collected Freshman of the Year honors.

Wright State, which handed regular season champion Milwaukee its only League loss this season, was also represented by Brooke McCurdy who won Goalkeeper of the Year honors. For the second time in his career and first since 2009, Wright State’s Pat Ferguson was tabbed the League’s Coach of the Year by his peers.

Lewers collected the most points in voting to earn Player of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year honors. In her junior season, the 2012 First-Team All-League selection tied for League-high honors with eight goals in 17 matches and her 20 points ranks third in the League. The Panther forward also was tops in the League with three game-winning goals.

Metzler led a Wright State defense that has allowed just 17 goals this season. The junior defender has racked up the accolades in her career. She was an All-Newcomer selection as a freshman, a Second-Team All-League selection last year and this year was a First-Team All-League selection and Defensive Player of the Year.

Her teammate McCurdy anchored the back line for the Raiders, turning in a .842 save percentage to go along with a 0.88 goals-against-average. McCurdy’s also ranked second in the conference with 80 saves and seven shutouts.

In her first year with Valparaiso, Manzke worked her way into the starting lineup during the season. The highlight of her rookie campaign was scoring the game-winning goal in the 87th minute of Valparaiso’s 2-1 win over Cleveland State.

Regular season champions, Milwaukee put three players onto the First Team, as Lewers was joined by fellow Panthers Krissy Dorre and Kelsey Holbert. Detroit, Oakland and Wright State all had two members on the team with the Titans represented by Kaitlyn Quarrell and Alyssa Riley, Oakland by Abbie Haelewyn and Meghan Reynolds and Wright State’s McCurdy and Metzler. Vickie Havas was Cleveland State’s lone first team pick, while Hannah Kernen was Green Bay’s First Team selection.

The Horizon League Women’s Soccer Championship kicks off on Tuesday, Nov. 5, when No. 4 Detroit hosts No. 5 Valparaiso at 2 p.m. ET; five hours later, No. 3 Oakland welcomes No. 6 Youngstown State at 7 p.m. ET.  No. 1 Milwaukee will square off against the lowest remaining seed while No. 2 Wright State will meet the highest remaining team in the semifinals, which begin at 5 p.m. ET on Friday, Nov. 8.  The championship contest will commence at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, Nov. 10. Milwaukee will be the host for the semifinals and finals.

The semifinals and championship will be carried live on the Horizon League Network at HorizonLeague.com.

2013 Horizon League Women's Soccer Award Winners
Player of the Year: Kelly Lewers, Milwaukee (Jr., M)
Offensive Player of the Year: Kelly Lewers, Milwaukee (Jr., M)
Defensive Player of the Year: Allie Metzler, Wright State (Jr., D)
Goalkeeper of the Year: Brooke McCurdy, Wright State (Sr., GK)
Freshman of the Year: Morgan Manzke, Valparaiso (M)
Coach of the Year: Pat Ferguson, Wright State

All-League First Team
Kelly Lewers, Milwaukee (Jr., M)
Kaitlyn Quarrell, Detroit (Sr., F)
Krissy Dorre, Milwaukee (Jr., F)
Alyssa Riley, Detroit (Jr., M)
Kelsey Holbert, Milwaukee (Jr., M)
Allie Metzler, Wright State (Jr., D)
Abbie Haelewyn, Oakland (Sr., M)
Meghan Reynolds, Oakland (Sr., F)
Vickie Havas, Cleveland State (So., F)
Hannah Kernen, Green Bay (Jr., M/F)
Brooke McCurdy, Wright State (Sr., GK)

All-League Second Team
Liz Soto, Wright State (Jr., D)
Kelsey Draper, Valparaiso (Jr., M)
Emilie Fillion, Wright State (Sr., F)
Alyssa Lotito, Detroit (Jr., D)
Allison Ludwig, Youngstown State (Sr., F)
Amy Kauffung, Milwaukee (Jr., D/M)
Ashley Gogolin, Wright State (So., M)
Brittany Dowd, Youngstown State (Sr., D)
Sara Stern, Milwaukee (Sr., M)
Frederike Dubeau, Cleveland State (Sr., D)
Kristen Manski, Valparaiso (Sr., GK)

All-Freshman Team
Morgan Manzke, Valparaiso (M)
Anna Mindling, Detroit (M)
Rachel DeLuca, Oakland (M)
Marissa Sarsfield, Cleveland State (D)
Alice Palmer, Oakland (F)
Kaitlan Vossen, Detroit (D)
Alleina Szydlowski, Milwaukee (M)
Katie Schulz, Green Bay (D)
Carley Rice, Detroit (M/F)
Kelly Manski, Milwaukee (M)
April Cronin, Valparaiso (F)
Paige Lincicum, Milwaukee (GK)