Women’s Soccer Hands Out Team Awards

BILLINGS, Mont. – Montana State Billings head women’s soccer coach, Don Trentham, announced his end of the season team awards at his annual banquet this past Saturday.

Earning Most Valuable Player and Newcomer of the Year was freshman Jaucelyn Richter who led the team with 10 goals, eight assists and 28 points.  She was named to the first team All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference and was named Freshman of the Year for the conference.

The Newcomer of the Year Award is presented to the top incoming player (freshman or transfer) of the fall season and it is voted on by the players.  The Most Valuable Player award is presented to the most outstanding player of the fall season and it also is voted on by the players.

Richter, a Billings native, is only the second player in the history of the program to earn Newcomer of the Year and Most Valuable Player in the same season.  The other is former goalkeeper Megan Plank who was a four-time MVP at MSUB.

The Iron Woman Award goes to players who have played in 1650 minutes or more during the season.  This year there were five players who played in more than 1650 minutes.  Junior Samantha Boehm led the way playing in all 1866 minutes.  The Wilsonville, OR, native, was an honorable mention all-conference selection and was a third team CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District selection.  The rest of the Iron Women include; Jordan Fenwick (Boise, ID, 1866 min.), Courtney Harvey (Billings, MT, 1827 min.), Kari Foreman (Lakewood, CO, 1794 min.) and Jennifer Larsen (Mesa, AZ, 1659 min.)

The Next Level Award went to Kelly Minard of Helena, MT.  It is presented to the returning player who took their game to the next level from the previous season as voted on by the players.

Ridgefield, WA, native, Lauren Anderson was named Scholar-Athlete for the year as she had the highest cumulative grade point average.  Anderson is a junior who carries a 3.72 GPA in human services.

The Quest For Excellence Award is the highest honor in the program and it is presented to the player who goes above and beyond in demonstrating teamwork, hard work, dedication, discipline and passion as a person and student-athlete.  Boehm was voted on by the players as The Quest For Excellence winner for 2009.