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Buchanan, Lawrence Named to All-America First Team
December 04, 2015 03:03 PM | Women's Soccer
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University women’s soccer juniors Kadeisha Buchanan and Ashley Lawrence were named to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) All-America First Team today.
The honor is the second straight first-team recognition and third career award for Buchanan, a defender and native of Brampton, Ontario. She was named to the second team as a freshman in 2013. Today’s recognition is the first career award for Lawrence, a midfielder and native of Toronto, Ontario.
West Virginia is one of two schools to land two student-athletes on the first team. This marks the first time in program history two Mountaineers have earned NSCAA All-America First Team honors in one season. It also marks the first time since 2002-03 WVU has had first-team recognitions in back-to-back seasons.
In total, five Mountaineers have earned six first-team honors since 2000, and Izzo-Brown has coached 12 players to 18 NSCAA All-America honors in 20 seasons.
Today’s awards bookend a week of honors for the duo, as they were named to the 2015 Missouri Athletic Club (MAC) Hermann Trophy semifinal list on Tuesday. They also were named to the NSCAA All-Central Region First Team on Thursday alongside senior forward Kailey Utley.
Buchanan, a native of Brampton, Ontario, anchored a Mountaineer back line that recorded 15 shutouts this season, a program record, and allowed a program-low 11 opponent goals. The three-time reigning Big 12 Conference Defensive Player of the Year, Buchanan and the back line also put together a program-record nine-match shutout streak this season (Aug. 28 – Sept. 25).
One of three team captains, she also tallied five points (1 G, 3 A) and scored the game-winning goal at No. 15 Ohio State on Sept. 11. In addition to today’s recognition, Buchanan, a three-time All-Big 12 First Team honoree, was named to the Big 12 All-Tournament Team and the Big 12 All-Academic Second Team.
Lawrence is a three-time All-Big 12 First Team honoree. She finished 2015 ranked No. 3 on the team, No. 5 in the Big 12 Conference, with 18 points (5 G, 8 A), a career single-season high. Lawrence paced the Mountaineers with eight assists, the second-best Big 12 total, and she now ranks No. 11 in the WVU record book with 19 career assists. Additionally, her five goals were the third-best team total, and she helped the Mountaineers tally a program single-season best 61 goals.
Lawrence also was named to the All-Big 12 Academic Second Team.
The duo helped the Mountaineers claim their fourth straight Big 12 Conference regular-season title this year. WVU advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight, the second appearance in program history, and accumulated 19 victories, a program record. WVU was ranked in the top 10 nationally each week but two this year and hit a program-high No. 2 ranking twice.
Members of the Full Canadian Women’s National Team, the duo started all five of Canada’s matches at the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Buchanan was named the tournament’s Best Young Player and earned a spot on the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015 All-Star Team. She also was one of 10 players shortlisted for the 2015 Ballon d’Or Award as the FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year. Lawrence scored Canada’s lone goal in the team’s 1-1 draw against Netherlands in Group A play.
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