The Aurora University women’s soccer team, winners of the Northern Athletics Conference Women’s Soccer Championship for the seventh consecutive season, captured half of the 2012 postseason awards announced
Monday.
Spartan junior defender Jenee Lange (Green Bay, Wis./Notre Dame) was named Defensive Player of the Year and Head Coach Troy Edwards was named Coach of the Year. The Spartans also placed five players on the All-Conference First-Team, one player on the All-Conference Second-Team and two players on the All-Freshman Team.
The AU women’s soccer program captured the Northern Athletics Conference championship with a 12-0 regular season record. The Spartans are the No. 1 seed in the upcoming NAC tournament and hope to capture the automatic bid into the NCAA tournament, which would be the ninth in the last 12 seasons. On the conference season, the Spartans outscored their opponents 68 to five (12 games). The Spartan women, currently ranked ninth in the NSCAA and D3soccer.com Top 25 polls, finished the regular season with a 17-1-1 overall record and captured their 14th conference title in the 19 seasons of the program’s existence.
Lange was named the NAC Defensive Player of the Year and First-Team All-Conference, having started in 17 games for the Spartans at the important defender position in the AU defense. The AU defense has eight shutouts, six in the NAC, on the season while allowing 0.66 goals per game.
In his first season at AU, Edwards was named the NAC Coach of the Year, First-Team while leading AU to an impressive 17-1-1 record and 12-0 in the conference.
Joining Lange on the NAC women’s soccer All-Conference First-Team is sophomore midfielder Nicole Wolfe (Chula Vista, Calif./Hilltop) with 14 goals, one assist and six game-winning goals; freshmen forward Nicci Bermudes (San Diego, Calif./University City) with 14 goals, five assists and six game-winning goals; sophomore midfielder Lisa Bajkowski (Oswego, Ill./Oswego HS) with four goals, three assists and one game-winning goal; and senior defender Britney Schenck (St. Charles, Mo./Orchard Farm HS) who has helped with Spartan defense to eight shutouts and a 0.66 goals-against average while also picking up two goals and two assists.
Senior forward Raquel Rodriguez (Aurora, Ill./West Aurora HS) was named Second-Team All-Conference by the NAC with her four goals, 10 assists and two game-winning goals.
Bermudes and fellow freshman defender Alisha Oseguera (Whittier, Calif./Whittier) were named to the NAC All-Freshman Team. Oseguera is a key player in the Spartan defense that has allowed just five goals in NAC play with six shutouts.
The Spartan women are in action on Tuesday, October 30, 2012 when they host the semi-final round of the 2012 Northern Athletics Conference Tournament. AU takes on Milwaukee School of Engineering at 1:30 p.m. on Vago Field.
