In a year that was anything but ordinary, WKU Soccer made proverbial lemonade out of lemons. It was a season meant for celebration as the 20th in the program's young history, and the Lady Toppers still celebrated but in a different way.
After having the season pushed back to the spring and dropping its season-opening match to North Alabama, WKU bounced back in a major way. The Lady Toppers rattled off a 10-match unbeaten streak, claimed the Conference USA East Division title and won the program's first match in the C-USA Championship in Houston.
"This season was a season of precious moments, and I couldn't think of a more fitting way to celebrate 20 years as a program than to bring home a championship for our alumni," said head coach Jason Neidell. "We had some incredible firsts for the program, including our first C-USA championship since joining the league in 2014 and our first All-American in Ambere Barnett."
The Lady Toppers had the second-best season winning percentage in the program's history with an 8-2-2 (.750) record on the year. The 10-match unbeaten streak that stretched for nearly the entire season was the third longest in WKU's 20-year history.
On the defensive side, the Lady Toppers gave up only 13 goals on the season. That number is tied for the second fewest in program history. Goalkeeper Ashely Kobylinski and the WKU backline also shutout five opponents on the season.
The team celebrated several individual successes over the season, culminating in 16 total awards from various organizations. Barnett, as mentioned by Neidell, became the program's first All-American with third team honors from United Soccer Coaches.
She was honored by C-USA as the league's Player and Midfielder of the Year along with First Team All-Conference honors for the third straight year and United Soccer Coaches First Team All-South Region honors for the second consecutive season. She was also an All-American in the classroom, earning United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-America First Team honors. Her Player of the Year award was WKU's first since Kellie Walker was named Sun Belt Player of the Year in 2009, joining Walker and Morgan Thomas (2007) as the only Lady Toppers to earn the award. She is the team's sixth academic All-American all-time.
Avery Jacobsen also racked up in the awards department, claiming All-Conference First Team, United Soccer Coaches All-South Second Team and C-USA All-Tournament Team honors. Jacobsen's fellow defender Lyric Schmidt brought home some hardware with All-C-USA Second Team and United Soccer Coaches All-Region Third Team honors. Sophomore Katie Erwin was also named to the All-Region Third Team and the C-USA All-Tournament Team. Freshmen Ellie Belcher and Brina Micheels earned C-USA All-Freshmen Team honors.
At the annual awards (Zoom edition this year), WKU celebrated not only the spring 2021 season, but the entire 20 seasons of the program's existence. Throughout the season WKU highlighted 20 members of an All-20th Anniversary Team and several members of that squad joined the video call.
The members of the Anniversary Team spoke to the current Lady Toppers about how proud they were of the this season's squad and what it means to be a part of the program. The former players also presented the annual awards to the team. Below is the list of banquet award winners:
Most Valuable Player – Ambere Barnett
Defensive Player of the Year – Lyric Schmidt
Offensive Player of the Year – Ambere Barnett
Most Improved Player – Katie Erwin
ROTC Leadership Award – Avery Jacobsen
Coach's Award – Chelsea Moore
Spirit Award – Isidora Pekez
"The year was truly the culmination of 20 years of hard work by a small army of high-achieving female student-athletes, as well as an incredible total team effort amidst some of the most unique challenges of our time. I couldn't be happier for our student-athletes and program, or prouder to call myself a Hilltopper," said Neidell.
How to follow the Lady Toppers: For complete information on WKU Soccer, visit WKUSports.com or follow the program via social media @WKU_Soccer on Twitter and Instagram.
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