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The Big East women’s soccer regular season finishes up on Thursday, and the Big East tournament starts over the weekend. That means we’re just days away from the league office announcing the postseason awards.
In order to cut the Big East off at the pass, here’s the official Anonymous Eagle award picks and/or predictions, depending on how you want to think about it. I tried to figure out how the coaches like to vote and let that influence how I went about making my picks. Am I going to be right? Well, given that the Big East has an undefeated team right now, I’m probably going to be right about a lot of this, but there’s also some pretty strong guesswork involved.
Enjoy!
Offensive Player of the Year: Caitlin Farrell, Forward, Georgetown
She has 32 total points on the season, leading the Big East by eight. Her in-league total is up to 21, nine more than the next best total. She has 10 goals in just eight conference matches, with the next number on the list being a three-way tie at four. This seems like the no-brainer to end all no-brainers.
Defensive Player of the Year: Meaghan Nally, Georgetown
This is a bit of a guess for me. Nally was the preseason award winner, so she has to be considered here. Her Hoyas have the lowest goals-against average in the lead at 0.34, and they have 11 shutouts in 17 matches this season. It’s hard to argue against her.
Nally has two Defensive Player of the Week awards in her back pocket to help her case, but she’s not alone there. Providence‘s Katie Day along with Butler‘s Annika Schmidt and Julia Leonard both have two weekly awards as well, so this award may end up being a pretty close vote.
Midfielder of the Year: Niki Molina, Villanova
This is an absolute guess. It has not been a great year for midfielders scoring in the Big East this season, and it hasn’t been a great year for midfielders earning weekly honors, either. No one has particularly stood out, so I’m turning to Molina here. The freshman from Miami is tied for third in the Big East in assists this season, which as far as I can tell, is the best scoring output by a midfielder in terms of goals or assists. I don’t have anything else to go on this one, so there you go. I guess it’s possible that Providence’s Kayla Steeves gets this one, as she was the only midfielder on the preseason all-league team.
Goalkeeper of the Year: Arielle Schechtman, Georgetown
11 shutouts, more than anyone else in the league. The best goals-against average in the league. The best save percentage in the league. 4 Goalkeeper of the Week awards, more than anyone else in the league. This should be a unanimous vote.
Coach of the Year: Dave Nolan, Georgetown
His team is undefeated with one regular season match left. If anyone else gets a vote, that person should be fired for cause.
All-Big East Team
Kyra Carusa, F, Georgetown
Katie Day, D, Providence
Samantha Dewey, F, Xavier
Caitlin Farrell, F, Georgetown
Zsani Kajan, F, St. John’s
Julia Leonard, D, Butler
Niki Molina, M, Villanova
Meaghan Nally, Georgetown
Arielle Schechtman, GK, Georgetown
Annika Schmidt, D, Butler
Kayla Steeves, M, Providence
Most of these names have already been mentioned in this article, so they shouldn’t be surprises to you. Kajan has the second most points overall this season, while Dewey is second best when you look at only conference matches. Carusa is fourth in points, tied for sixth in goals, and tied for the lead in the league in assists, which is good enough for a spot for me.