Unscientific Predictions: 2016 Big East Women’s Soccer Postseason Awards

The Big East women’s soccer regular season wraps up on Friday night with all 10 teams playing each other. That means at some point after Friday, we’ll get the announcement of the postseason awards. I’ve yet to be able to figure the league office out when it comes to when they want to announce these awards, so we’re going to make some picks and/or predictions before the season wraps up just to make sure that we make them official.

I’m going to warn you right now: Some of these are blind guesses because stats or weekly awards did not provide enough data to make an educated decision.

Offensive Player of the Year: Lauren Sullivan, F, Creighton

If you’re making a pick for OPOY, you really can’t go wrong with the player that’s leading the league in points, and that’s Sullivan. She’s got 30 points on 12 goals and six assists. She leads the Big East in goals and is in a seven way tie for the second most assists.

I was legitimately surprised to find out it wasn’t Georgetown’s Rachel Corboz, to be honest, but Corboz isn’t even leading her own team in points. She does have the conference lead in assists, though. With Creighton needing to beat Georgetown on Friday to get into the Big East tournament, I wouldn’t be entirely surprised to see a Hoya beat out Sullivan for this award, for the record. It’ll be a complete travesty, mind you, because this is “BEST OFFENSIVE PLAYER” not “MOST VALUABLE PLAYER.”

Defensive Player of the Year: Morgan Proffitt, Marquette

10 weeks of the season, 10 different players winning Defensive Player of the Week. Crap. Ok, look. Proffitt was the preseason DPOY, so we already know that the coaches think she’s the best defensive player in the league. She did get a DPOW award, and she was one of four players to make the Weekly Honor Roll a league leading three times this season. Without any real statistics to look at here, we have to just cobble together a reason for a pick, and this seems just as likely as anything else.

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

EIGHT GOALS.

Poulin has allowed EIGHT GOALS in 17 matches this season. She has 11 shutouts in 17 matches, and four of them came in scoreless draws. She leads the Big East in goals-against average (0.44) and save percentage (.887). If this is anything but a unanimous decision, then the coach or coaches that don’t vote for her need to be terminated for insubordination.

Freshman of the Year: Maddy Henry, GK, Marquette

I honestly have no idea if I’m remotely close here. This is what I do know: Henry is one of two players to win Freshman of the Week honors more than once this season, and the other one - Xavier goalkeeper Toni Bizzarro - has played fewer than 500 minutes this season. Henry has played every single minute in net for the Golden Eagles, and she has a Weekly Honor Roll appearance. There’s no freshmen in the top 10 in points or goals this season. Creighton’s Taryn Jakubowski is tied for the second most assists in the league, and she has a FOTW award to her name, so she could be a solid candidate.

Coach of the Year: Erin Chastain, DePaul

If Marquette beats the Blue Demons on Friday to tie for the regular season title and take the #1 seed in the conference tournament, I think this will go to MU head coach Markus Roeders. I’m making a pick before then, though, so I’m going with Chastain. DePaul was sitting at 3-4-2 in their non-conference schedule, but they’ve bounced back to roar to the top spot in the league after being picked to finish second. Seems like the solid move.

All Big East Team

Anna Maria Baldursdottir, D, St. John’s
Alexa Ben, M, DePaul
Rachel Corboz, M, Georgetown
Grace Damaska, F, Georgetown
Serina Kashimoto, M, Butler
Diana Poulin, GK, St. John’s
Morgan Proffitt, D, Marquette
Abby Reed, F, DePaul
Taylor Schissler, D, DePaul
Lauren Sullivan, F, Creighton
Crystal Thomas, F, Georgetown

Sullivan, Proffitt, and Poulin are all automatic picks because of their individual awards. I mentioned Corboz as a candidate for Offensive Player of the Year, so that puts her in here, too. Damaska is the Hoya that leads Corboz for their team lead in points, and Thomas has more goals than her, too. Reed and Kashimoto round out the top five in points. Ben makes it in because I prefer to have a balanced list and she’s the next best scoring midfielder.

Baldursdottir and Schissler are guesses for defense. Baldursdottir was a preseason honoree, so why not. Schissler is one of the seven players tied for the second most assists, which seems like a good reason to give a nod to a defensive player.