10 Women's Soccer Players Named All-Region
Complete List of NSCAA All-East Regions Teams
The National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) released its list of Div. III All-Region selections and the Empire 8 had ten women’s players selected to the All-East Team.
The Empire 8 had three first team selections, five players garnered second team honors and two players were tabbed third team.
E8 Offensive Player of the Year, Houghton junior Stephany Ellison, and Defensive Player of the Year, Ithaca senior Anna Gray, were both selected to the first team along with Stevens Institute of Technology midfielder Bridgette Barden.
Ellison put together a stellar season for the Highlanders as she scored 16 goals and registered seven assists to lead the conference with 39 points. She registered at least one point in 13-of-19 games played and helped jumpstart Houghton's offense to the tune of 52 goals and 2.7 tallies per game.
Gray's selection marks the second All-East Region First Team honor (2011) of her career. Gray, the Empire 8 Defensive Player of the Year, also earned an All-East Region Second Team selection as a junior in 2012. She finished the season with four goals and two assists in 22 starts for the Bombers. Gray anchored a defense that held opponents to just nine goals all season, helping the Bombers record 15 shutouts on the year.
Barden landed on the first-team for the second time in her career – she was also a first-team member in 2011. In 2010 and 2012, Barden was a second-team honoree. This season, Barden paced Stevens with seven goals, five game-winners and 17 points. She was also tied for second with three assists in 19 matches played. She helped lead the Ducks to their 13th consecutive postseason appearance with a trip to the Empire 8 Conference semifinals and a 10-9 overall record this fall.
Second team honors went to defenders Sarah Cipperly of Nazareth College and Alyssa Figueroa of Houghton. Ithaca's Amanda Callanan and Nazareth's Olivia Derluth were recognized in the midfield and Bomber's Kelsey King completed the second team as a forward.
Cipperly started regularly as a defender for the Golden Flyers for four seasons. She played in 18 games in 2013 and helped anchor a defensive unit that limited opponents to less than one goal per game while recording seven shutouts.
Figueroa has been the team's anchor in the back, leading a defense that allowed 12 goals in 19 games. Figueroa has played all but 31 minutes on the field, while registering two assists.
Derleth started all 20 games in 2013 and has been the team's leading scorer the past two seasons. She finished the season with 10 goals and one assist.
Callanan, a midfielder, started in 20 of the Bombers' 22 games this season. She scored five goals and added two assists for 12 points on the year. Three of Callanan's goals this season were game winners, including two on penalty kicks. Callanan was an All-East Region First Team selection last season, and has been an all-conference selection for the past three seasons.
King, who garnered all-region honors for the first time, led the Bombers in nearly every offensive category. She paced Ithaca with 14 goals and 29 points, earning All-Empire 8 First Team honors in 2013. King recorded seven game-winning goals, and scored multiple goals in three games during the season. King's goal total ranked second in the conference, while her 29 points ranked third.
St. John Fisher's Alexandra Rohloff and Ithaca's Ellyn Grant-Keane were tabbed to the third team.
Rohloff led the team with nine goals this season, in addition to two assists, for a team-leading total of 20 points. Her nine goals also placed her tied for fourth place on the Conference leaderboard. She closes her career with a total of 25 goals and eight assists for a combined 58 points in 70 games.
This year marks Grant-Keane's first all-region selection. She has earned all-conference honors for three-straight seasons, and finished 2013 ranked second on the Bombers with 15 points on five goals and five assists. Grant-Keane finished her career with 30 assists over four seasons with the Bombers, making her Ithaca's all-time assist leader.