Eight members of the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford women's soccer team received All-Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference honors, the conference office announced Wednesday afternoon.
Sarah Dailey picked up Defensive Player of the Year honors, and Mike Idland was named Co-Coach of the year. Jamie Christensen, Kaitlin Donnelly and Dailey were first team selections while Kaitlin Williams and Maggie Boehler earned second team honors. Bethany Carpenter and Delaney Houtz rounded out the Panther's postseason honors as third team selections. As a team, the Panthers won the regular season AMCC Championship, but fell, 4-3, in an overtime-heartbreaker to Penn State Behrend in the title game.
"I was really pleased to see a number of our players get recognized for their outstanding achievement within the conference this season," Idland said. "I am especially happy for Jamie Christensen, who has been performing at a first team all-conference level for four years in my opinion, and who has finally been acknowledged appropriately."
Christensen was a second team selection a year ago and earned first team honors for anchoring the conference's best defense statistically as a senior. Carpenter and Houtz also played huge roles on the Pitt-Bradford back line, as the Panthers allowed just four goals in nine conference games.
Boehler, also a senior, has been on the All-AMCC team all four years, winning Newcomer of the Year and Co-Offensive Player of the year as a freshman. She finished the year with four goals, with all four of them being game-winners.
Donnelly earned a first team selection for leading the Panthers offense with 16 points, including six goals and four assists in her sophomore season, while Williams, a second team selection, added six goals and two assists.
Dailey started all 17 games, playing every minute of every game in goal and leading the Panthers to a conference-best 1.21 goals against average, including an AMCC-best 0.43 GAA in nine conference games. She also led the conference with an overall .832 save percentage and a .911 save percentage in nine conference games. Dailey posted and AMCC-best five shutouts in conference play and had six overall. She was a third team all-conference selection as a freshman.
"Sarah Dailey is well-deserving of the Defensive Player of the Year award. Her work ethic and statistics are undeniable, and stylistically she is in a league of her own when compared to other goalkeepers," Idland said. "I'm sure that this honor, and the weight of responsibility that comes with it for an underclassman, will go a long way towards producing even more mature and steady performances from her in conference play and during the conference tournament next season."
This is the second time coach Idland earned Coach of the Year honors, with his first honor coming at the conclusion of the 2011 season.
"I'm honored and humbled to receive the co-coach of the year award alongside Coach Wigle at Pitt-Greensburg. He and several other coaches within in the conference oversaw excellent seasons for their programs," Idland said. "For my program, the positive results we achieved in the AMCC this season were certainly down to my players and their unshakeable focus and determination, so I owe the award to them in all honesty."
