Carrie Madden Named To All-Big East First Team; Kylie Sprecher On All-Freshman Squad

Time to step into the Wayback Machine and wind our way to last week Saturday, when the Big East announced the league’s end of season women’s soccer awards.

Two Marquette players were honored by the league for their efforts in 2017. Carrie Madden was included in the All-Big East First Team, while Kylie Sprecher was named to the conference’s All-Freshman Team.

Madden recorded seven goals on the season, a new personal best for the redshirt junior from Deer Park, Illinois. Even though she missed time due to injury this season, Madden still found time to assemble a five game point streak at one point. Even now, after the first two rounds of the conference tournament have been played, Madden ranks fifth in the Big East in points with 19 and seventh in goals with seven.

Sprecher appeared in every match this season for the Golden Eagles, earning 15 starts along the way. She snagged 10 points on the year, including two goals and a team high six assists, which is also good enough for second best in the Big East, or best in the non-Rachel Corboz division. Sprecher also scored the most absurd goal of the season for Marquette, one that may actually challenge for the most absurd goal in the country. The freshman from Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin recorded Marquette’s only shot against Boston University back in early September, but she also scored on the shot. That gave MU a 1-0 win in a game where they were outshot 25-1. Like I said, absurd.

Four of the Big East’s individual awards made complete sense. Georgetown’s Elizabeth Wenger, Rachel Corboz, and Arielle Schechtman won Defensive Player, Midfielder, and Goalkeeper of the Year as expected, and Coaching Staff of the Year went to Butler. Nothing here was anything resembling a surprise, given how dominant the Hoyas were this season, as well as how successful the Bulldogs were. Butler’s Paige Monaghan swiped Offensive Player of the Year away from Corboz in my mind by tacking on a few points on the final matchday of the season and ending up with the league’s points title.

There was a three-way tie for Freshman of the Year in the Big East between Butler’s Leonie Doege, Providence’s Shelby Hogan, and Xavier’s Sydney Schembri. Here’s how the league office wrote it up:

Doege played in all nine BIG EAST matches, surrendering just one goal in nearly 504 minutes in the cage for a 0.18 goals against average. The rookie boasted a .960 save percentage in conference play, while having a hand in six shutouts. In 15 appearances overall, Doege leads the nation in goals against average (0.102) and save percentage (0.975). Hogan started all nine BIG EAST games for the Friars, posting a 0.68 GAA and .842 save percentage. The rookie was credited with four shutouts, including the 1-0 decision over a nationally ranked Georgetown squad. Schembri helped spark the Xavier offense with three goals in BIG EAST play, leading the Musketeers to their first postseason berth since 2003. The freshman forward was credited with two game-winning goals and tallied a team-best 16 strikes in nine league matches.

Sure. I’m not sure how Butler’s Caitlyn DiSarcina didn’t factor into this voting, but there you go.

We’ll wrap up with the rundown for the all-conference teams.

All-BIG EAST First Team

Franny Cerny, DePaul, Jr., F
Amanda Carolan, Georgetown, Jr., F
Caitlin Farrell, Georgetown, Jr., F
Carrie Madden, Marquette, R-Jr., F
Alexa Ben, DePaul, Sr., M
Rachel Corboz, Georgetown, Sr., M*
Paige Monaghan, Butler, Jr., M*
Katie Day, Providence, Jr., D
Annika Schmidt, Butler, R-So., D
Elizabeth Wenger, Georgetown, Sr., D
Arielle Schechtman, Georgetown, Sr., GK

All-BIG EAST Second Team

Tori Doss, Xavier, R-Sr., F
Christina Bellero, St. John's, Jr., F
Caitlyn DiSarcina, Butler, Fr., F
Allie Moar, St. John's, Sr., M
Taylor Pak, Georgetown, Sr., M
Kayla Steeves, Providence, Jr., M
Shannon McDevitt, Butler, Sr., D
Carly Alfano, Xavier, Sr., D
Meaghan Nally, Georgetown, So., D
Jesse Schaefer, St. John's, Sr., D
Shelby Hogan, Providence, R-Fr., GK

BIG EAST All-Freshman Team

Amber Birchwell, Providence, M/F
Maia Cabrera, St. John's, M
Caitlyn DiSarcina, Butler, F
Leonie Doege, Butler, GK
Shelby Hogan, Providence, GK
Julia Leonard, Butler, D
Kelly Ann Livingstone, Georgetown, D
Jenna Menta, Georgetown, F
Sydney Schembri, Xavier, F
Kylie Sprecher, Marquette, F
Morgan Turner, DePaul, F

* — Unanimous selection