Four Marquette Women's Soccer Named To All-Big East Teams

The past few years, the Big East has always announced their postseason awards for women's soccer as part of a banquet the night before the conference tournament semifinals.  Since that's not until Friday, I figured that I had a day or two to finish up my predictions post.

I was wrong.

This afternoon, the Big East announced their individual postseason awards, as well as the all-conference teams.  First, let's talk about Marquette.

Forward Liz Bartels and midfielder Mary Luba were named to the all-Big East First Team, while defenders Jacie Jermier and Morgan Proffitt were added to the all-conference Second Team.  Bartels finished sixth in the Big East in assists with six, while Luba, a United States U-23 team call up this past summer, must have impressed the Big East coaches with her play on both sides of the field, as she doesn't appear on the league's statistical leaders.  Jermier excelled on the outside of Marquette's back line, while Proffitt's athleticism allowed her to play in front of Marquette's main back three and help distribute balls away from the net.

Ok, onwards to the conference awards.  Let's get to the obvious ones.

Offensive Player of the Year and Midfielder of the Year: Daphne Corboz, Midfielder, Georgetown

Yeah, this one's a gimme.  Corboz has 37 points this year, nine more than anyone else.  She got there on 10 goals, third most in the Big East, and 17 assists, the most in the conference by seven over DePaul's Alexa Ben.  It's possible that Corboz still could have beaten out Rachel Daly a year ago had Corboz been healthy the whole season.  She was the Offensive Player of the Year back in 2012, so nothing about this is surprising.  Maybe giving her Midfielder of the Year is a little surprising, but hey: there's no one better than her, so I'm okay with that.

Coach of the Year: Erin Chastain, DePaul

DUH. The Blue Demons are one of just two teams in the country to go without a loss this season, and they only ended a match in a draw three times.  Moving on.

Rookie of the Year: Alexa Ben, M/F, DePaul

Well, I already mentioned her name when discussing Corboz's achievements, so this shouldn't be a shocker even to you, fair reader.  The diminutive attacker from Schaumburg, Illinois, played in every game for the Blue Demons, finishing tied for the team lead in points, and tied for second in the Big East as well.  She finished sixth in the league in goals and, as mentioned, second in the conference in assists.  Tack on her four Rookie of the Week awards, twice as many as anyone else, and Ben's the obvious choice.

That's the easy ones.  Now the ones I don't understand.

Defensive Player of the Year: Georgia Kearney-Perry, D, St. John's

She was never named Defensive Player of the Week, and never made the Weekly Honor Roll.  Yet, GKP retains her preseason honor after the season is over.  My pick for this was going to be Sarah Gorden from DePaul, but that was kind of a shot in the dark.  The Big East eliminated a Goalkeeper of the Week award this season, even though they still handed it out on the men's soccer side.  This led to six goalkeepers winning seven Defensive Player of the Week awards, and thus I had no idea who to pick.  Gorden snagged one of the other DPOW awards plus two Honor Roll nods, so she would have been my pick.

Goalkeeper of the Year: Diana Poulin, St. John's

WHAT.  Alejandria Godinez, the 2013 GK of the Year, didn't lose a match for DePaul all season, plus she has the best goals-against average this year.  Poulin finished fifth in goals-against average and seventh in save percentage. How is Poulin the keeper of the year?  St. John's finished their season with a 3-0 loss to DePaul.  I mean, I know one match shouldn't decide something like this, but with the regular season title on the line, Poulin allowed three goals and Godinez allowed ZERO.

We'll wrap up with the all-conference teams:

All-BIG EAST First Team
Liz Bartels, Marquette, So., F
Daphne Corboz, Georgetown, Sr., M*
Rachel Daly, St. John’s, Jr., F
Serina Kashimoto, Butler, So., D
Georgia Kearney-Perry, St. John’s, Sr., D*
Mary Luba, Marquette, Sr., M
Sophia Maccagnone, Butler, Jr., M
Marina Paul, Georgetown, Jr., M   
Rachel Pitman, DePaul, Sr., D
Diana Poulin, St. John’s, So., GK   
Elise Wyatt, DePaul, Jr.,     F
Catherine Zimmerman, Providence, Jr., F*

All-BIG EAST Second Team
Sarah Adams, Georgetown, Jr., F
Alexa Ben, DePaul, Fr., M/F
Rachel Corboz, Georgetown, Fr., M
Emily Cubbage, St. John’s, Jr., M,
Emily Damstrom, Villanova, Jr., D
Sarah Gorden, DePaul, Sr., D
Jacie Jermier, Marquette, Jr., D
Elise Kotsakis, Butler, Sr., F
Emma Newins, Georgetown, Sr., GK
Morgan Proffitt, Marquette, So., D
Abby Reed, DePaul, So.,    F
Lauren Sullivan, So., Creighton, F

BIG EAST All-Rookie Team
Alexa Ben, DePaul, M/F*
Shea Connors, St. John’s, F   
Rachel Corboz, Georgetown, M*
Lucy Edwards, DePaul, M   
Elizabeth Endy, DePaul,    D   
Christina Klaum, Providence, M
Allie Moar, St. John’s, M   
Rachel Morrier, Providence, M
Jesse Schaefer, St. John’s, D   
Liz Wenger, Georgetown, D