Cardinal Stritch, Olivet Nazarene, St. Francis Top List of Women's Soccer Postseason Award Winners
CHICAGO --- Regular-season co-champions Cardinal Stritch University and Olivet Nazarene University along with University of St. Francis came away as the most decorated women's soccer programs for the 2022 season, gaining five awards each when the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference announced its postseason honor roll on Monday.
Olivet Nazarene gained the most overall all-conference selections with five of the 28 named. The Tigers put two players on the first team with another three gaining second-team status.
Cardinal Stritch, which also won the CCAC Tournament on Saturday, split its four all-conference choices evenly between the two teams, while also claiming one of the top individual honors. St. Francis captured the other two outstanding individual awards to go along with three players being named all-conference.
St. Ambrose University and Trinity Christian College tied for having the most first-team picks with three each with the former also producing one second-team honoree.
The rest of the all-conference team was made up of three players from Judson University and two each from Holy Cross College, Roosevelt University and Saint Xavier University.
Saint Xavier also joined Trinity International University as the Karl Boeck Champions of Character Team.
Of the 14 players named to the first team, nearly half were repeat selections from one year ago. Olivet Nazarene's Abbey Cash was the only three-peat awardee, while Trinity Christian's Litzy Corona and Demi Scibetta, Cardinal Stritch's Mari Sagstad and Judson's Kelly Leon and Alondra Blanco were repeat selections. The latter was named to the first team three times in her four-year career.
Claiming the top prize as the CCAC Player of the Year was Cardinal Stritch's Sagstad. Just a sophomore, the midfielder placed among the top four performers in the league in four separate categories. Highlighting the list were her four game-winning goals, which tied for the top spot in the conference. She also ranked second in assists (13) and total points (47) and third in goals with 17.
Nationally, Sagstad's 13 assists tied her for the ninth spot in the NAIA, while her 47 points placed her tied for 16th. Numbers like those led to her being named the CCAC Offensive Player of the Week on two occasions.
St. Francis' Krystal Rodriguez came away earning CCAC Freshman of the Year accolades after gaining a spot on the all-conference first team as the only goalkeeper. She led the conference in save percentage (.855) and tied for first in shutouts with seven. She also ranked second in goals-against average (0.90), fourth in total goals allowed (17) and fifth in shots handled (100).
On the national stage, Rodriguez was 14th in save percentage and tied for 19th in shutouts.
She also earned CCAC Defensive Player of the Week accord one time.
St. Francis boasted the CCAC Coach of the Year in Al Palar, as well. Palar took a program that won just one conference game two years ago to an eight-game winner this fall. The Saints also tied a school record with their 12 overall victories.
For the complete list of award winners, go to Awards.