Women's Soccer: Six Earn Regional Honors
January 29, 2004 03:59 PM | General
January 29, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Six West Virginia University women's soccer players earned 2003 regional honors from SoccerBuzz as announced earlier today.
Headlining the list are seniors Chrissie Abbott and Lisa Stoia, both first team all mid-Atlantic region honorees. Abbott, who is also a finalist for SoccerBuzz player of the year, makes her second appearance on the all-region first team. The North Olmsted, Ohio, native led the Mountaineers with 13 goals and eight assists for 34 points in 2003. The honor is Abbott's third consecutive from the magazine. A first team selection in 2002 as well, she was a second team honoree in 2001.
Stoia, the two-time BIG EAST midfielder of the year, makes her third straight appearance on the all-region first team. The Shirley, N.Y., native was also an all-region freshman team member in 2000. This past season, Stoia netted seven goals and dished out a school-record 12 assists for 26 points, second highest on the team.
Both Abbott and Stoia are now All-America candidates.
Fellow senior Jenn Lewis is the Mountaineers' lone representative on the all mid-Atlantic second team. An outside back, the Silver Spring, Md., native, led a defensive line that posted 12 shutouts and a 0.80 goals against average in 2003. Lewis was also a second team all-region selection as a junior.
Junior defender Ashley Weimer, a North Huntingdon, Pa., native, is a third team all mid-Atlantic region selection. The honor is the first postseason award of Weimer's career. As a center back, she played a key role on the West Virginia defensive unit that allowed opposing teams only 19 goals on the year. Weimer also contributed offensively, scoring one goal and adding seven assists on the year.
Freshmen Lana Bannerman and Nicole Cauzillo round out WVU's award winners as members of the all-freshman mid-Atlantic region team. Bannerman, a native of Naperville, Ill., started every match in goal for the Mountaineers, logging 2,095 minutes and posting 10 shutouts in her rookie campaign.
Cauzillo, like her fellow freshman, started every match for West Virginia in 2003. A midfielder and Northville, Mich., native, Cauzillo scored three goals and added two assists for eight points in her first season with the Mountaineers.
West Virginia finished the 2003 season with a 17-4-2 record and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 for the first time in program history.
