NEW YORK – With the 2018 BIG EAST Women’s Soccer Championship presented by Jeep kicking off Sunday, All-BIG EAST Teams and major awards were announced by the Conference on Saturday. No. 4 Georgetown, which won its second consecutive regular-season title and is the league tournament’s No. 1 seed, took home four of the six major awards, including Caitlin Farrell as BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year, Arielle Schechtman as Goalkeeper of the Year for the second straight year, Meaghan Nally as Defensive Player of the Year, and Coaching Staff of the Year for the first time since 2012. Xavier’s Samantha Dewey was voted BIG EAST Midfielder of the Year, while Butler’s Anja Savich was tabbed Freshman of the Year to round out the major awards.
All-BIG EAST Teams and major awards are selected by a vote of the league’s head coaches who are not allowed to vote for their own players. All-BIG EAST First and Second Teams are comprised of three defenders, three midfielders, three forwards, one goalkeeper and one at-large selection per team. The All-Freshman Team is 11 at-large selections.
Farrell becomes the first Offensive Player of the Year out of Georgetown since Daphne Corboz in 2014. Farrell was the clear favorite all season, scoring at least one point in eight of nine BIG EAST contests towards a league-high 21 points, nine more points than any other player. Her 10 goals in conference play was two-and-a-half times the next closest player in the rankings, while it wasn’t just quantity, it was quality too as half of her scores were game winners. On the season, Farrell’s 15 goals rank sixth nationally, while her six game winners are third most in Division I. Farrell was unanimously voted BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year and was the lone unanimous All-BIG EAST First Team choice.
Schechtman boasts Division I’s top save percentage (.940) and second-best goals against (.238). Her 12 shutouts are most in the nation, as are her 46 career clean sheets. In BIG EAST play, the senior surrendered just two goals in over 838 minutes of work for a 0.21 GAA and .941 save percentage. She enters the postseason 12-0-3 on the year.
Nally anchored a defense which boasts the nation’s second best team goals against average (.317). The Hoyas have 12 shutouts on the year while no team has scored more than one goal against the stingy Georgetown defense all season. GU limited its BIG EAST opponents to just 4.0 shots on goal per game, more than doubling up its opponents in shots (152-69) and shots on goal (74-36). The junior added a goal and two assists in BIG EAST play, including a game-winning score.
Georgetown enters the postseason as one of two unbeaten teams in Division I along with No. 1 Stanford. The Hoyas are No. 4 in the latest United Soccer Coaches Poll, holding that spot for the last three weeks while landing in the top 10 for eight consecutive weeks. Dave Nolan is in his 15
th season as head coach of Georgetown, reaching double-digit wins for a 12
th consecutive season and on pace for a seventh consecutive NCAA Championship berth. The Hoyas won their second consecutive BIG EAST regular-season title as GU totaled 25 points in the standings, most by any BIG EAST team since 2013.
Dewey becomes Xavier’s first BIG EAST Midfielder of the Year. Over nine BIG EAST matches, the redshirt-junior totaled 12 points, second-most in the league, ranking second in goals (4) and third in assists (4). She led the Musketeers to a second consecutive BIG EAST Championship berth, finishing the regular reason as the lone conference team to earn a draw with unbeaten Georgetown this season. Four of Dewey’s eight goals on the year were game winners, while she leads XU with 22 points overall.
Savich is Butler’s second consecutive BIG EAST Freshman of the Year. She was the highest scoring rookie in the BIG EAST this season with eight points off three goals and two assists over nine games. She notched two game winners for the Bulldogs, who clinched the No. 2 seed in the BIG EAST Championship for the second straight year. Savich averaged 2.67 shots per game against BIG EAST foes to rank eighth among all league players.
In addition to four major awards, Georgetown had six named to All-BIG EAST teams, including a league-high four to the First Team. Farrell was a unanimous first-team selection, while Schechtman, Nally and junior defender Paula Germino Watnick also earned first-team nods. Kyra Carusa and Grace Nguyen were named to the second team. Butler, the No. 2 seed in the BIG EAST Championship, was the lone other team to have multiple first-team selections as senior midfielder Paige Monaghan and redshirt-junior defender Annika Schmidt were named to the top squad. The Bulldogs tied Providence with the second-most honorees with five. Senior defender Katie Day represented the Friars on the first team while PC had a league-high three second-team picks. Villanova led the way in All-Freshman team selections with three, while four total Wildcats were honored as Kristin Barbour was named to the All-BIG EAST Second Team.
BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year
Caitlin Farrell, Georgetown, Sr., F*
BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year
Meaghan Nally, Georgetown, Jr., D
BIG EAST Midfielder of the Year
Samantha Dewey, Xavier, R-Jr., M
BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Year
Arielle Schechtman, Georgetown, Sr., GK
BIG EAST Freshman of the Year
Anja Savich, Butler, F
BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year
Georgetown
All-BIG EAST First Team
Paige Monaghan, Butler, Sr., M
Annika Schmidt, Butler, R-Jr., D
Taryn Jakubowski, Creighton, Jr., M
Franny Cerny, DePaul, Sr., F
Caitlin Farrell, Georgetown, Sr., F*
Paula Germino Watnick, Georgetown, Jr., F/M
Meaghan Nally, Georgetown, Jr., D
Arielle Schechtman, Georgetown, Sr., GK
Katie Day, Providence, Sr., D
Zsani Kajan, St. John’s, R-So., F
Samantha Dewey, Xavier, R-Jr., M
All-BIG EAST Second Team^
Anja Savich, Butler, Fr., F
Adrian Walker, DePaul, Jr., Center Back
Kyra Carusa, Georgetown, Grad., F
Grace Nguyen, Georgetown, So., M
Katrina Wetherell, Marquette, Fr., M
Shelby Hogan, Providence, So., GK
Hannah McNulty, Providence, So., F
Kayla Steeves, Providence, Sr., M
Christina Bellero, St. John’s, Sr., F
Claudia Cagnina, St. John’s, Sr., M
Kristin Barbour, Villanova, Jr., D
Grace Bahr, Xavier, Jr., D
All-Freshman Team^
Morgan Kloosterman, Butler, M
Anja Savich, Butler, F
Ansley Atkinson, Creighton, M
Mollie Eriksson, DePaul, GK
Ellie Mink, DePaul, M
Katrina Wetherell, Marquette, M
Alyssa Bombacino, Marquette, F
Hannah Morgan, Providence, D
Hensley Hancuff, Villanova, GK
Niki Molina, Villanova, M
Chloe O’Neil, Villanova, F
Hayley, Jakovich, Xavier, D