Troy University Athletics
Photo by: Kevin Glackmeyer
Sutcliffe And Pinder Earn All-Conference Honors
11/2/2010 7:05:00 PM | Soccer
The duo earned Second Team All-Conference honors on a vote by the league's coaches
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The Troy University Trojans women's soccer team placed two players on the Sun Belt All-Conference team released Tuesday night. Both players were named Second-Team All-Conference as voted on by the coaches.
Sophomore Ruth Sutcliffe led the Trojans in scoring this season with 23 points, as she netted eight goals and tied a single-season school record with seven assists. The sophomore was among the conference leaders in scoring this season, her first in Division 1. Sutcliffe also added four game-winning goals on the year, two in back-to-back road games in Louisiana in conference play.
Meanwhile, senior Jill Pinder closed out her career with a Second-Team selection after scoring four goals and adding two assists on the year. The senior finished the year with one game-winning goal, that coming against South Alabama that enabled the Trojans to earn the fifth seed for the conference tournament. She will finish her career as the school record holder for goals in a single-season, goals in a career and points scored in a career.
Meanwhile, the 2010 Sun Belt Conference Regular Season Champions, Denver, placed a league-high seven players on the All-Sun Belt Soccer Team, including 2010 SBC Player of the Year Kaitlin Bast and 2010 SBC Co-Freshman of the Year Nicholette DiGiacomo, the league announced on Tuesday evening at a pre-tournament banquet at the SBC Soccer Championship in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
The Pioneers, which finished the season 17-2, placed five student-athletes on the first team and two on the second team. Led by Bast and DiGiacomo the Pioneers raced through SBC play to an 11-0 record to become just the third team in SBC and Pioneer history to finish conference play undefeated.
Bast, a first team all-conference selection in 2009, finished the regular season as the leader in the SBC in goals scored with 14, nine of which were scored during Denver's run through conference play. She finished tied with Middle Tennessee's Vanessa Mueggler, a 2010 first team all-conference selection, for points totaled with 31.
During the season Bast had five game-winning goals all coming in conference action. The defending SBC Tournament Most Outstanding Player is currently tied for fifth on Denver's all-time single season goals scored list, just three shy of DU's record.
Her teammate, DiGiacomo, is second in the NCAA in assists with 14 (third in assists per game), which is tied for DU's all-time single season record. The freshman midfielder leads the SBC in assists (14), assists per game (0.74), shots per game (3.68) and shots (70).
FIU's Chelsea Leiva was named Co-Freshman of the Year along with DiGiacomo. Leiva led FIU in goals scored with 10, while placing third overall in the SBC. She tied DU's Bast for most game-winners this season.
Leiva became just the third freshman in FIU history to ride a four-game scoring streak and was the first FIU freshman to earn SBC Player of the Week honors since the inception of women's soccer in the conference.
DU's Jeff Hooker was named Coach of the Year after leading his Pioneers to one of the best seasons in school history. The 17 wins in 2010 tied the third-best win total for Denver since joining the league in 2000 for soccer. Only the 2006 team had more wins (19). Denver led the conference in assists (45) and points (133) while finishing second in goals scored (44).
Middle Tennessee and FIU each placed four student-athletes on the all-conference teams followed by WKU with three and Troy with two. Florida Atlantic and North Texas each had one selection on the all-conference teams.
The SBC Women's Soccer Championship begins on Wednesday, November 3. The opening round match will pit No. 1 seeded Denver against No. 8 Louisiana-Lafayette at 10 a.m. All matches can be seen live via web streaming on the Sun Belt Conference official website - www.sunbeltsports.org. Fans can purchase the tournament package for just $9.95 which will give you coverage of each and every game for the tournament.
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