Women’s soccer team wins second straight conference title

The lady Braves won their second consecutive KCAC Championship after defeating Friends University 1-0 last week.

Eight players earned All-KCAC selection and Coach Marc Gordon earned KCAC Co-Coach of the year.

Their season ended with a 14-2-2 overall record and an undefeated conference record.

The defense is ranked 8th in total shutouts, led by Junior midfielder Amanda Just and Junior goalkeeper Lauren Peil.

Just was named KCAC Defensive Player of the Year, and Peil was named KCAC Goalkeeper of the Year. Both players have earned First Team-All KCAC honors as well, according to the Ottawa Braves web site.

Although many of the players returned from last year, coaches Marc Gordon, Jeremy McGinnis and Joe Nemzer were all new to the team this year.

Senior Defender Raechelle Sloan thought the coaching changes were positive.

"We wanted a coach to come in and push us, and Gordon has," Sloan said. "He also provided us with different drills, practices and views of soccer we hadn't seen the last three years."

Sloan also noticed that the coaches were willing to put in extra time to help better the team.

"We have two of the best graduate assistants in NAIA," she said. "These two guys are willing to go above and beyond to find what motivates us and how to make us better. They are always willing to put in extra time to help us individually."

However, a new coaching staff was one of the few differences the team had to get used to.

"The only difference from this year and last year was the coaching staff and the formation," Whitney Bowen, senior forward said. "Our team will always be the same as long as we keep putting in the hard work and playing with heart."

Bowen also mentioned players had to adjust to switching to positions they are unfamiliar with, like Sloan, who moved from midfielder to defender this season.

The forwards had a personal goal to score thirty points in conference. They taped their wrists and wrote the number 30 as a reminder during the game, and they came extremely close to their goal with twenty-eight points.

Bowen was named First team ALL-KCAC for the fourth year in a row. She is the first player at OU to accomplish this.

The Ottawa Braves athletic web site (www.ottawabraves.com) stated that Junior forward Kelsey Hanna and Freshman defender Taylor Mays werealso named First Team All-KCAC. Senior midfielder, Amber Webb and Sophomore midfielder, Amanda Talbott were also both named Second Team All-KCAC.