May 8, 2006
Asheville, N.C. - Women's basketball freshman, Lauren Powell, and the Western Carolina women's soccer team were both honored as recipients of collegiate-level awards at the 48th annual Mountain Amateur Athletic Club and WNC Sports Hall of Fame banquet on Sunday night at the Grove Park Inn Resort. Powell was dubbed the region's College Female Athlete of the Year winning the H. H. Zeugner Award, while the Catamount strikers were selected as the collegiate Female Team of the Year and received the Houser Shoe Award.
In front of a sold-out crowd of over 700, more than 25 athletes and teams from Western North Carolina were honored.
Powell led all conference rookies in scoring this season en route to earning Southern Conference Freshman of the Year accolades. She was also named to the All-Freshman team, marking Western's fifth selection to the honorary squad in the past six seasons, as well as second team All-SoCon by the media. Powell led the Lady Catamounts in seven statistical categories, including points (328); scoring average (11.3/gm); field goal percentage (44.8%); field goals made (112 or 3.9/gm); 3-point field goal percentage (42.4%); 3-point field goals made (64 or 2.2/gm); and 3-point field goals attempted (151 or 3.9/gm).
Freshman Lauren Powell was named the College Female Athlete of the Year.  |
|
For the season, Powell made 64, 3-pointers marking the fourth-best, single-season in the WCU record books and she already ranks eighth on the WCU career charts. Her 151 attempts rank as the sixth-most in a season. She connected on an average of 2.2 treys per game which ranks tied for fourth on Western's seasonal charts and second on the career charts after one season.
Powell earned all-tournament honors at the Florida State Seminole Classic last Thanksgiving, averaging 15.5 points per game. She also twice surpassed the 20-point plateau, scoring 20 at nationally ranked Michigan State and 22 versus conference-rival, Furman. Powell scored in double figures in 19 of Western's 24 games, including a streak of double-digits in 11 consecutive games during the middle of last season.
Powell was selected out of a field that included Nichole Scheidt from Montreat volleyball; Stefanie Panzer from Appalachian State volleyball; Rachel Retallick from Mars Hill cross country; Sandy Tabor from Brevard volleyball; Elif Unlu from UNC Asheville volleyball; and Hilary McKay from UNCA women's soccer.
In just its seventh year of existence, the Catamount women's soccer team claimed its second-ever Southern Conference championship (2001 regular season co-champ) by winning the school's first SoCon tournament championship, earning Western's first-ever berth in the NCAA College Cup Championships last season. Western enjoyed an 8.5 game turnaround in the win-loss column, the best-ever in the SoCon, turning a 5-10-3 season into an 18-6-0 mark. In addition to the mark ranking as the biggest turnaround in conference history, it also ranked first in the nation last year. Of the top 25 most improved programs in the NCAA last year, Western had the third-most victories with 18 - a WCU school record.
Western, who was the fourth seed in the tournament, became just the fourth team to ever win the championship, joining Furman, UNC Greensboro, and Davidson. The Catamounts were the lowest-seeded team to ever capture the title. Following the tournament run, Western made its first-ever appearance on the Soccer Buzz Southeast regional rankings, in at No. 10, and appeared on the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/adidas poll for the second-time in its brief history, hitting the charts at No. 9, which is one slot lower than the all-time school record of 8th, set back in 2001. In addition, the Catamounts were recognized in the March 13 edition of The NCAA News as ranking among the top teams in the nation according to data gathered from the Academic Progress Rate (APR) at the Division I level.
Western Carolina first-year head coach Tammy DeCesare became the second, first-year skipper in SoCon history to capture the title in their first attempt - much like Western Carolina women's basketball head coach, Kellie Harper, who won the 2005 SoCon Women's Basketball Tournament in her first attempt as a head coach. DeCesare was honored by Soccer Buzz Magazine as she was named the Co-Runner-Up for Regional Coach of the Year.
The 2005 SoCon Women's Soccer Champions were named the College Female Team of the Year. |
|
The 2005 season was also a huge individual success for several Catamounts. Junior goal keeper Alesha Row finished the season with a school-record 13 shutouts and was named the SoCon Tournament's Most Outstanding Player, recording two scoreless outings in the championship run. Row, who ranks second on the WCU career shutouts list with 17, concluded last season ranked 30th in the nation in goals-against average (0.74), but played the most minutes of any goalkeeper listed in the top 30. She also ranked 15th in the NCAA in shots on goal save percentage, making 107 saves while only allowing 18 goals for an 0.856 average. Sophomore Heather Dittmer earned national recognition for her accomplishments in the SoCon Tourney as she was named to the Soccer Buzz Magazine "National Elite Team of the Week," marking WCU's first-ever selection to the team.
Finally, senior Emily Pierce was named to the ESPN the Magazine, Academic All-District III second team, as announced by the College Sports Information Director of America (CoSIDA). The selection is the third all-time by a Catamount, which includes Pierce's two selections to the second team in 2003 and `05. She was also awarded the David Knight Graduate Scholarship from the Southern Conference offices in early March and was a finalist for an NCAA post-graduate scholarship.
The Catamount soccer team was selected from a field that included Appalachian State's women's track & field; Mars Hill cross country; Brevard volleyball; and UNC Asheville women's soccer.
In addition to Powell and the women's soccer team, Western Carolina sophomore Steven Strausbaugh, an outfielder for the Catamount baseball team, was also a finalist for the College Male Athlete of the Year at this year's awards banquet.
|
|
 |
