Horizon League announces women's soccer All-League teams and specialty awards
Oct. 27, 2006
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INDIANAPOLIS - University of Detroit Mercy senior midfielder Mary Parker along with Loyola University Chicago coach Frank Mateus and freshman forward Cynthia Morote-Ariza were honored as the League specialty award winners, as the Horizon League announced its women's soccer All-League teams and individual awards on Friday (Oct. 27).
Winning the Player of the Year trophy for the second time in her career, Parker had a regular season to remember in 2006. The senior tallied League-high totals in points (35), goals (15) and shots (105), while leading the Titans to a 8-10-0 overall record (4-3-0 HL). She had two hat tricks in League play during the season and scored in five of seven loop contests. Parker becomes just the fourth player in history to win Player of the Year twice, joining Lisa Kryzykowski (1995, 1997) and Fanta Cooper (1999-2000) of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee along with Sarah Oligney (2003, 2005) of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
Loyola's Mateus won his first Horizon League Coach of the Year honor after guiding the Ramblers to a program-best 11 wins during the regular season. In his second year in Chicago, he lost just one game in League play (1-0 in overtime versus UW-Milwaukee) and significantly improved the team's fifth-place forecast in the League's preseason poll.
Morote-Ariza set a Rambler single-season record with 24 points (nine goals, six assists) in her rookie campaign en route to the Newcomer of the Year award. The freshman forward burst onto the scene scoring seven points in her first three collegiate games.
A trio of UW-Milwaukee players join Parker and Morote-Ariza on the All-League First Team as junior defender Ginny Graczyk alongside sophomores Sarah Teegarden and Erin Kane led the Panthers to an unblemished 7-0-0 mark in loop action. All three earned their second-straight selection. Teegarden, a midfielder, picked up the pace at the end of the season and has scored three-consecutive game-winning goals, while Kane leads the League in shutouts (12) and goals-against average (0.43) for the second-straight season.
Loyola placed a total of three players on the first squad with freshman Jackie Vera and junior Heather Lau accompanying Morote-Ariza. Vera is tied for ninth on the circuit's leaderboard in points (13) and Lau places eighth in shots with 41.
Two other players became repeat First-Team members, with UW-Green Bay senior Stephanie Gross winning the honor for the third-straight year and Wright State University sophomore Jess Rooma making her second-consecutive appearance. Gross finished second in the League with 32 points (13 goals, six assists), scoring four game-winners.
Rounding out the top group are Butler University senior Kristin Harnest and Youngstown State University sophomore Caitlin Lee. With the selection, Lee becomes the first Youngstown State player to be honored on the First Team.
UW-Milwaukee also placed three players on the Second-Team All-League as Amanda Winn, Louise Vraney and Taylor Powell all got the nod. Wright State matched the Panthers with three Second-Team honorees in goalkeeper Steph Comisar, forward Amy Miller and defender Megan Mattioda. Detroit and Loyola each earned two spots on the list with Titan defenders Shelley Marick and Melanie Slusher along with Rambler midfielders Casey Berrier and Mary Dale finding a place on the second group. The final two spots belong to UW-Green Bay's Dixie Schubert and Butler's Ashley Twehues.
Morote-Ariza headlines the All-Newcomer team that includes fellow Ramblers Vera and Berrier; UWM's Vraney, Erin Kreuser and Kate Megna; Detroit's Andrea DiPace and Jenny Whaley; Youngstown State's Jordan Gapczynski and Caitlin Bodzioney; Butler's Abbie Kaul and Wright State's Lorrin Bertsch.
The League Championship begins Saturday (Oct. 28) with quarterfinal action at campus sites. The highest remaining seed earns the right to host the remainder of the tournament, with semifinals scheduled for Friday, Nov. 3, and the League's automatic entry into the NCAA Tournament on the line in the (Sunday, Nov. 5) League title tilt.
