Women's Soccer: Five Honored By BIG EAST
November 03, 2005 10:09 PM | General
November 3, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Five West Virginia University women’s soccer players earned conference honors for the 2005 season it was announced Thursday night at the annual awards banquet.
Headlining the list is senior forward Marisa Kanela who was named first team all-BIG EAST. A native of Wantagh, N.Y., Kanela is the Mountaineers' leading scorer with seven goals and a career-high eight assists on the year. A preseason all-conference selection, Kanela earned second-team all-BIG EAST honors last season and was named to the conference’s all-rookie team in 2002.
Earning second team all-BIG EAST honors were sophomore Ashley Banks and freshman Amanda Cicchini.
Banks, the 2004 BIG EAST co-rookie of the year, is second on the team with four goals and six assists for 14 points. The honor is the second of Banks’ career as she was a second team all-BIG EAST midfielder last season as well. An Annandale, Va., native, Banks was also a preseason all-BIG EAST honoree.
Cicchini, an Oakville, Ontario native, has started every match in center midfield for the Mountaineers during her rookie campaign. West Virginia’s primary play maker, Cicchini scored her first collegiate goal in WVU’s 2-0 shutout of South Florida.
Rounding out WVU’s award winners were junior goalkeeper Lana Bannerman and senior defender Kambria Riggins who were each named third team all-BIG EAST. Both are first time honorees.
Bannerman, a three-year starter, leads the BIG EAST in shutouts with eight on the season and is one shutout shy of the WVU career record. The Naperville, Ill., native boasts a 0.75 goals against average, good for second in the conference. She has played all 1,680 minutes for the Mountaineers this season, posting 38 saves on the year.
A Millersville, Pa., native, Riggins anchors a Mountaineer defense that has posted eight shutouts in 17 matches this season. A four-year starter, Riggins is a large part of a back four that has allowed opposing offenses only 128 shots and 48 corner kicks on the year.
The complete list of conference honorees and major award winners can be found at www.bigeast.org.
West Virginia is back in action Friday afternoon when it faces Connecticut at 3:30 p.m., in the first BIG EAST semifinal match of the day.
CSTV will be televising Friday’s match live. An audio broadcast of West Virginia’s semifinal contest as well as a live gamecast can be accessed via MSNsportsNET.com.
Tournament host, 12th-ranked Marquette and No. 6 Notre Dame face off in the second semifinal match. Kickoff for that contest is set for 6:00 p.m.
Winners of both semifinal matches advance to the BIG EAST championship match at noon on Sunday, Nov. 6. FSN Pittsburgh will be airing the contest on a one-hour tape delay at 1:00 p.m., that day.
