SAN BRUNO, Calif. – West Coast Conference NCAA postseason teams Brigham Young and Santa Clara claimed two of the conference’s major awards, but Pepperdine claimed three of the five top honors with the release of the 2018 All-WCC teams, the conference office announced Tuesday.
Santa Clara’s Kelcie Hedge earns WCC Player of the Year honors, and BYU’s Jennifer Rockwood claims WCC Coach of the Year honors for the third time while Pepperdine took home Defensive Player of the Year, Goalkeeper of the Year and Freshman of the Year. The Waves duo of Hailey Harbison and Brielle Preece both repeated for the second-consecutive year as the defensive player and goalkeeper of the year, respectively, while teammate Isabel Nelson is honored as the conference’s top freshman.
All five individual awards - including the all-conference teams - were voted on solely by the WCC's 10 head coaches.
Hedge earns the 11
th Player of the Year honor is Santa Clara’s storied history and the first since the 2014 season after helping to lead the Broncos to a 16-3-1 record, the most wins for the program since Santa Clara earned 17 in the national title season of 2001. The redshirt junior finished third in the WCC in goals (6) and points (14) in conference play and was the only midfielder to finish the WCC season with over 10 points despite missing one game due to injury.
Harbison was named Defensive Player of the Year for the second-consecutive season after playing all 850 minutes of WCC play for a Waves team that finished the season as the conference’s top defensive unit with just four goals allowed in nine matches. She becomes the first student-athlete to repeat as the Defensive Player of the Year in WCC history. Pepperdine also led the league in goals against average (0.42) and shutouts (5). The senior defender also added one goal and one assist, knocking in the game-winner against Portland.
Preece repeats as the Goalkeeper of the Year after once again leading the WCC in goals against average (0.42), save percentage (.889) and shutouts (5). The honor marks the third-consecutive season that a Pepperdine Wave has claimed the top honor with Hannah Seabert taking the award in 2016 before Preece began her two-year streak last season. She joins Erica Owens of BYU (2012-13) as the only two-time award winners.
Nelson is the WCC Freshman of the Year in a season that saw her lead all conference freshmen in minutes played at 850. Nelson started all nine WCC games and never left the pitch as the center back joined fellow Wave award-winner Harbison on a backline that was the conference’s top defensive unit. Harbison and Nelson were the only two Waves field players to play every minute of every game in conference play.
Rockwood was named WCC Coach of the Year after winning the league title with an 8-1-0 record and the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Cougars were selected to finish third in the preseason poll prior to the run to the conference title. Rockwood previously earned the honor in 2012 and 2014.
Player of the Year: Kelcie Hedge, Santa Clara
Defensive Player of the Year: Hailey Harbison, Pepperdine
Goalkeeper of the Year: Brielle Preece, Pepperdine
Freshman of the Year: Isabel Nelson, Pepperdine
Coach of the Year: Jennifer Rockwood, Brigham Young
2018 WEST COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN’S SOCCER FIRST TEAM
Name School Year Position
Mikayla Colohan Brigham Young Soph. M
Elise Flake Brigham Young Jr. F
Hailey Harbison Pepperdine Sr. D
Kelcie Hedge Santa Clara Jr. M
Alex Loera Santa Clara Soph. D
Miciah Madison San Francisco Jr. F/M
Milan Moses San Diego Jr. F
Brielle Preece Pepperdine Sr. GK
Taryn Ries Portland Soph. F
Maria Sanchez Santa Clara Sr. F
Kelsey Turnbow Santa Clara Soph. F
2018 WEST COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN’S SOCCER SECOND TEAM
Name School Year Position
Joelle Anderson Pepperdine Soph. M
Sarina Bolden Loyola Marymount Sr. F/M
Olivia Dendinger Portland Soph. D
Alyssa Jefferson Brigham Young Jr. D
Samantha Jehnings San Francisco Jr. F
India Jencks Gonzaga Jr. F
Rachel Lyman Brigham Young Jr. D
Summer Mason San Diego Sr. F
Isabel Nelson Pepperdine Fr. D
Ariana Pumpelly Gonzaga Sr. D
Autumn Smithers San Francisco Jr. M
2018 WCC WOMEN’S SOCCER HONORABLE MENTION
Kendall Bietsch, Pacific; Shelby Cormier, Loyola Marymount; Jaylen Crim, Saint Mary’s; Sabrina Davis, Brigham Young; McKenna Ferrera, Gonzaga; Maddy Gonzalez, Santa Clara; Marika Guay, Santa Clara; Kimberly Hazlett, Portland; Kelsey Hill, Saint Mary’s; Devyn Kelsey, San Diego; Christina Settles, Pepperdine; Skylar Smith, Santa Clara; Olivia Wade, Brigham Young
2018 WEST COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN’S SOCCER ALL FRESHMAN TEAM
Name School Position
Maya Alcantara Saint Mary’s D
Haley Archuleta Gonzaga D
Bella Folino Brigham Young M
Marika Guay Santa Clara M
Catherine Hill San Francisco D
Laura Ishikawa Pepperdine D
Jalyn Lupo Loyola Marymount D
Isabel Nelson Pepperdine D
Skylar Smith Santa Clara M
Olivia Wade Brigham Young M
Karley Weeks San Francisco M