Wednesday, November 15, 2017

PORTLAND, Ore. – In a confirmation of the strength across the conference in women’s soccer this season, a total of nine Great Northwest Athletic Conference players earned first team honors and two received second team honors on the Division II Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA) All-West Region Women’s Soccer Team.

Western Washington is led by four first-team selections in junior forwards Gabriela Pelogi and Karli White, senior midfielder Emily Webster and 2016 NSCAA Player of the Year senior defender Sierra Shugarts. Junior defender Taylor Hallquist rounded out the Vikings’ All-West Region selections on the second team.

Concordia, the 2017 GNAC regular season champions, is represented on the first team by junior midfielder and 2017 GNAC Player of the Year Gabrielle Ewing, GNAC Defensive Player of the Year Ana Delgadillo and sophomore goalkeeper Ana Miller.

Simon Fraser rounds out first-team selections with a pair of GNAC leaders in goals and assists. Tying for first in the GNAC with 14 regular season goals, sophomore forward Emma Pringle is joined by GNAC assist leader junior midfielder Jenna-lee Baxter. Seattle Pacific’s Kasey Reeve earned second-team honors after leading the Falcons to their sixth-straight GNAC Championships.

In her first regular season with WWU, White tied for fifth in the GNAC with eight goals and was second in the league with eight assists. Tying for first in the league with 14 regular season goals, Pelogi earns All-West Region honors for the second season in a row. Shugarts earns her second appearance on the All-West Region team after leading Western Washington to a league-high 11 regular-season shutouts and 0.38 goals against average. Webster, a four-time all-GNAC selection, rounds out WWU’s first-team selections having played in all 16 regular-season contests this season. Along with her goal and four assists, her stability in the midfield aided a high-flying Vikings’ attack that netted a league-high 50 goals.

Ewing took her game to another level this season as she led Concordia with eight goals and six assists in the regular season. She was tied for first in the GNAC with five regular season game-winning goals and led Concordia team to its first-ever NCAA tournament appearance. On the defensive side of the ball, Delgadillo anchored a Cavaliers’ backline that proved hard for opponents to unlock. Playing in over 1,500 minutes this season, Delgadillo has played a key role in Concordia’s 12 shutouts and has added two goals and two assists to reinforce her value.

Miller rounds out Concordia’s representatives after a breakout season between the sticks. She ranked first in the GNAC with a .870 regular season save percentage and allowed just nine goals including 10 shutouts in 18 appearances. Miller earned GNAC Defensive Player of the Week honors twice this season.

For the second-consecutive year, Pringle lands All-West Region honors after another impressive goal-scoring campaign. The 2016 GNAC Freshman of the Year picked up right where she left off, tying for the league-high of 14 goals. Her four-goal week during late September earned her the United Soccer Coaches Player of the Week honor on Oct. 3.  Joining Pringle is Baxter, who in 16 appearances recorded 13 assists to tie for first in Division II.

Hallquist, a Second Team All-GNAC selection, is joined by Reeve on the Second Team All-West Region. Appearing in all regular season games this season, Hallquist was third on the Vikings in minutes, tallying four assists.

Reeve was a reliable figure up top with a team-high 10 goals. Despite the high output, it was the timeliness of her goals that helped SPU to its sixth-straight GNAC Championships appearance. Four of her five game-winning tallies came in one-goal games.

No. 7 Western Washington will take on No. 3 UC San Diego this Friday in the third round of the 2017 NCAA Division II West Regional Championships. In last year’s tournament, the Vikings took down UC San Diego in the Division II West Regional Championship match with a 2-1 overtime victory.

The nine GNAC first-team members will now be forwarded to the national ballot, which will be announced Wednesday, Nov. 29.