OKLAHOMA CITY -- Senior Sara Frey has been named the Sooner Athletic Conference Player of the Year while head coach Kathleen Paulsen was selected Coach of the Year by her peers as the John Brown University women's soccer team pulled in eight year-end honors with six first-team and two second-team selections, the conference offices announced Nov. 7.
JBU's season came to an end last Friday at the hands of Science and Arts (Okla.) 2-1 in double overtime in the Sooner Athletic Conference Championship match at Alumni Field. JBU needed to land an at-large bid for the NAIA National Tournament, but the Golden Eagles were not selected when the tournament bracket was revealed Monday.
Joining Frey on the first team ballot was junior Jastin Redman, who was also named the league's Co-Offensive Player of the Year. Freshman Maggie Allen claimed the Goalkeeper and Freshman of the Year honors and joined freshman Sienna Nealon, senior Samantha Weber and junior Anne Metz as first-teamers.
Junior Aspen Carpenter was named All-Conference for the fourth time in her career, and landed on the second team for the third time. Sophomore Katherine Haar also was named to the second team, her first-career postseason accolades.
Paulsen, who has now earned consecutive Coach of the Year honors, has led the Golden Eagles to two NAIA National Championships appearances and has a combined 39-4-4 (.829) record in SAC games, including a perfect 19-0-0 (1.000) mark over the last two seasons.
Frey's first-team selection was the fourth of her career, completing a perfect 4-for-4 effort en route to landing her first-career Player of the Year selection. Starting all 19 games this season, Frey is third on the team in points (25) scoring nine goals and seven assists this season, all career highs. Her lone game-winner on the season was in a 2-1 win over No. 25 MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) in the season opener on Aug. 25. In SAC play, Frey netted six goals and four assists to total 16 points and had a pair of two-goal outings against Central Christian (Kan.) and Southwestern Christian (Okla.), on Oct. 21 and 28, respectively.
Joining Frey on the first team was Redman, who earned first-team accolades for the third-consecutive season. Despite missing a few matches, Redman still led the Golden Eagles with 14 goals and 12 assists (37 points). She also paced the JBU offense in shots (62) and shots on goal (31). Scoring in the first three contests of the season, Redman notched three multi-goal efforts, including a hattrick in an 8-0 victory over Central Christian (Kan.) on Oct. 21. She also registered three multi-assist outings, including a pair in back-to-back matches, both 3-0 wins over Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) and Ouachita Baptist (Ark.), respectively.
Redman has now been named Freshman of the Year, in her first season, and Offensive Player of the Year in the past two seasons.
Nealon helped the Golden Eagles to their strong start on the season, scoring goals in three of her first five collegiate matches, accounting for a pair of her team-leading four game-winning goals. She also netted a pair of game-winners in SAC play, netting the deciding strikes in wins at Texas Wesleyan and against Central Christian (Kan.). Nealon also pieced together a two-assist outing in JBU's victory over Wayland Baptist (Texas).
For the third time in her career, Weber landed on the first team, joined by back-line counterpart Anne Metz, who earned All-Conference recognition for the first time in her career. The duo, along with Frey, helped the Golden Eagles to an astounding .30 goals-against average in league play and allowed just 3.1 shots on goal per game as John Brown racked up seven team shutouts over the perfect run through the SAC table.
Weber, last season's Defensive Player of the Year, joined Frey as the only Golden Eagles who started all 19 contests this season.
Allen backstopped JBU to its .30 goals-against average in SAC action while posting a pair of individual shutouts, none more important than a six-save effort in John Brown's 1-0 win at No. 21 Science and Arts (Okla.) on Oct. 31. The freshman posted a .913 save percentage in 10 conference matches, stopping 21 of 23 shots on target. Allen collected a pair of four-save efforts to kick off conference play at Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas) and Texas Wesleyan, and had not allowed a goal in her final 360:00 of play in the regular season.
A second team All-Sooner Athletic for the second time in her career, Carpenter appeared in 18 contests, finishing second on the team in scoring with 10 goals and five assists (25 points). Her 50 shot attempts are second-most on the squad, and her four game-winners is tied for tops on the team. Scoring a hattrick in the 8-0 Golden Eagle win over Bacone (Okla.), Carpenter posted six tallies and four assists (16 points) in conference action.
Haar's second-team selection is the first of her career, capping off a nice year in the midfield where she racked up six goals and a pair of assists (14 points). Her best outing came in John Brown's 2-1 win over Mid-America Christian (Okla.) on Oct. 7 where she accounted for both JBU goals, including her lone game-winner of the season. Haar scored in back-to-back outings in non-conference play, a loss at Oklahoma Wesleyan and a 5-0 drubbing of Texas A&M -- Texarkana.
Sports on 11/15/2017