Headlined by senior Sienna Carballo earning Player of the Year, seven John Brown women's soccer players were honored on April 1 as the Sooner Athletic Conference announced the 2020 edition of the All-SAC teams and superlative award winners.
John Brown took home three of the Player of the Year awards. Joining Carballo were Ryan Winingham's selection as Freshman of the Year and Caitlyn Logan being chosen to her third-consecutive Goalkeeper of the Year honors.
Six Golden Eagles were named to the All-Conference first team. Joining Carballo, Winingham and Logan were freshman Lauren Walter, sophomore Aubrey Mendez and junior Paige Kula. Senior Vanessa Reynoso was JBU's lone honoree on the second team.
For the third time in the last five seasons, Dr. Kathleen Paulsen's program features the Sooner Atheltic's Player of the Year. Carballo landed the league's top honor after recording eight goals and three assists (19 points) to finish fourth in league scoring. More importantly, however, Carballo was the tip of the spear in an unrelenting Golden Eagle scoring machine, as John Brown ripped through its conference opposition by a tune of 38 goals scored (4.2 per game) and allowing just one (.11 per game), a penalty kick versus Southwestern Christian (Okla.) in the season opener.
Carballo, a native of Windsor, Calif., led five Golden Eagles with at least three goals scored in a COVID-shortened season. The four-time All-SAC selection finished conference play with her first-career hat trick, scoring three goals in the first half versus Texas Wesleyan, and her second Player of the Week honors. The timely forward now has 13 game-winning goals in her career, and sits just third on the program's all-time list.
Backing up Carballo on the goal-scoring machine that was John Brown in 2020 were Walter and Winingham. The Colorado duo combined to score just shy of one-third of all John Brown points on the regular season.
From Centennial, Colo., Walter made a splash by scoring a hat trick in her collegiate debut as the Golden Eagles trounced Southwestern Christian by a 6-1 final in Tulsa on Feb. 23. She would later score four goals in the remaining eight contests including a second game-winner at Wayland Baptist to finish with seven goals and five assists (19 points). The March 8 SAC Player of the Week also posted a career-high three assists in John Brown's 8-0 thrashing of Oklahoma City on March 13.
Winingham, a native of Highlands Ranch, netted seven goals and added a pair of assists on the nine-match schedule (16 points) and scored the most timely goal of the 2020 season – a second-half header in the box – and the game-winner in JBU's 3-0 win at Mid-America Christian (Okla.) on March 20. Always dangerous on set pieces, Winingham has scored six of her seven goals with her head off service from the corner flag.
For the third consecutive season, senior Caitlyn Logan has been selected as the league's top goalkeeper, while boasting the second-lowest goals-against average in the nation. Behind eight clean sheets in nine matches, the Charlotte, N.C. native stopped 13 of 14 opponents' shots on goal – a .929 save percentage. While not yielding a goal in the run of play in the regular season, Logan recorded a season-high five saves in a 3-0 shutout victory at MACU, vaulting the Golden Eagles to its fifth SAC regular season title and third under Paulsen.
Mendez and Kula patrolled the back line that allowed league opponents to score just one goal on the season. A native of Chino, Calif., Mendez kept top league strikers like Science & Arts' Emma Rice and Mid-America Christian's Kelsey Henry from scoring in high-profile matchups. Also hailing from Highlands Ranch, Kula returned to the program after an injury that sidelined her for the 2019 season after earning All-SAC second team honors as a freshman. This season, the corner kick specialist has served up nine assists – most in the Sooner Athletic and ranks fifteenth nationwide, but her 1.0 assists per game leads the nation. In total, Kula scored a pair of goals – including the game-winner in a 1-0 victory over Science & Arts – and dished out 10 assists (14 points).
Reynoso earned All-Conference status for the first time in her career, netting three game-winning goals in just eight matches this season. The San Fernando, Calif., product also posted a pair of assists (8 points) on the season.