Big South Announces 2021 Women's Soccer Annual Award Winners
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Gardner-Webb senior forward Maddie Turlington (Roanoke, Texas) and Radford senior defender Kayla Thomas (Rolleston, New Zealand) have been voted the 2021 Big South Women’s Soccer Offensive Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, respectively, by the conference’s head coaches, it was announced today by the league office. Charleston Southern junior Jenna Moran (Naples, Fla.) was voted the first-ever Goalkeeper of the Year, while Radford forward Kat Parris (Silver Spring, Md.) was tabbed Freshman of the Year. Campbell head coach Samar Azem was voted Coach of the Year, and the Big South’s sports information directors voted Campbell junior Jessica Donald (Tully, N.Y.) as the Women’s Soccer Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Turlington is Gardner-Webb’s first-ever Offensive Player of the Year honoree during the school’s Big South affiliation (since 2008). She tied for the league-lead with seven goals scored in the 10-match conference season, and was second with 18 points in Big South contests. Turlington added four assists in Big South play, and scored two game-winning goals. The Sept. 20 Big South Offensive Player of the Week, Turlington finished second overall in the conference in goals scored (9) and points (23). She also assisted on five scores for the Runnin’ Bulldogs, while her three game-winning goals during the regular-season were second-most in the Big South. Turlington received 16 points and four first-place votes in the voting, ahead of High Point’s Skyler Prillaman (13 points and two first-place votes) and Parris (13 points and one first-place vote).
Thomas is just the second player to earn Defensive Player of the Year honors three times since the award began in 2010 -- but is the first to receive the honor in three consecutive seasons. Thomas was a staple in the Highlander backline that posted a Big South-leading 10 clean sheets, allowed the fewest goals during the regular-season (14) and posted the lowest goals-against average in the conference at 0.80. She helped the Highlanders close out the Big South schedule on a six-match win streak -- all of which were shutouts. Thomas’ defensive efforts also limited opponents to an average of 4.53 shots on goal per match, and the squad’s six conference shutouts were tops in the league. The Aug. 30 Big South Defensive Player of the Week, Thomas and the Highlanders ranked first in conference contests with a 0.88 goals-against average, and tied for first for fewest goals allowed in Big South matches (9 in 10 games). The defender finished the voting with 22 points and five first-place votes, just ahead of High Point’s Alex Deperno (20 points and three first-place votes), and Longwood’s Kylie Cahill (16 points and one first-place vote).
Moran is the first-ever Big South Goalkeeper of the Year, as the award was added prior to the 2021 season. She had the highest saves percentage in conference matches at .839, was second in goals-against average (0.95) and second in shutouts (5). Overall, Moran tended the net for the Buccaneers with a 1.24 GAA, 69 saves, .802 saves percentage and six shutouts. She ranked fourth in the conference in GAA, fourth in saves percentage and second in clean sheets. Moran received seven first-place votes and 25 points, ahead of Radford’s Lauren Seedlock (15 points and three first-place votes) and Gardner-Webb’s Katelyn Kellogg (15 points and one first-place vote).
Parris is the first Highlander to be voted Freshman of the Year since 2010 and the fifth overall. She was the Big South’s overall leader in goals scored with 13, points with 33 and tied for fourth with seven assists. Parris also ranked first in shots (51), shots per game (3.00), points per game (1.94), goals per game (0.76) and tallied a league-high four game-winning goals. In Big South matches, Parris ranked fifth in points (15) and tied for third in goals (6). A two-time Freshman of the Week honoree as well as the season-opening Offensive Player of the Week, Parris received six first-place votes and 25 points, ahead of High Point’s Emily Mashinski (three first-place votes and 19 points).
Azem earns her first Big South Coach of the Year honor after leading the Camels to their first-ever Big South regular-season championship, as Campbell won the league with a 9-1-0 conference record for 27 points. The Camels tied for the fewest goals allowed in Big South action with nine, and scored the most goals with 36. Campbell was also tops in league contests in points (113) and assists (41). Campbell was 11-3-2 overall and 7-0-1 at home in the regular-season, ranked second in goals scored (44), points (136) and goals-against average (1.16), while permitting an average of just 4.44 shots on goal per game. Azem received 23 points and seven first-place votes, ahead of UNC Asheville’s Andy McNab (12 points and three first-place votes) and Longwood’s Todd Dyer (10 points).
Donald is the first Camel to be voted Big South Women’s Soccer Scholar-Athlete of the Year. A 3.920 student majoring in mechanical engineering, Donald ranks fourth in the Big South with 22 points, is tied for fifth in goals with seven, and dished out the second-most assists in the regular-season with eight.
The league also announced the 2021 All-Conference and All-Academic teams on Thursday, which are listed below. The All-Conference team is voted by the head coaches and features four forwards, four midfielders, four defenders and one goalkeeper on the first and second teams, followed by a five-person honorable mention squad regardless of position. A seven-member All-Freshman Team regardless of position is also recognized. The All-Academic Team consists of one student-athlete from each institution that meets the criteria and is nominated and selected by the Big South’s sports information directors.
2021 Big South Conference Women’s Soccer Award Winners
First-Team All-Conference
F: Maddie Turlington, Sr., Gardner-Webb
F: Skyler Prillaman, R-Jr., High Point
F: Jessica Donald, Jr., Campbell
F: Kat Parris, Fr., Radford
MF: Emma Bushee, Sr., Campbell
MF: Brianna Oliver, Sr., Radford
MF: Madison Lockamy, Gr., Longwood
MF: Juliette Vidal, Sr., High Point
D: Kayla Thomas, Sr., Radford
D: Alex Deperno, Soph., High Point
D: Kylie Cahill, Sr., Longwood
D: Cazzi Norgren, Soph., Campbell
GK: Jenna Moran, Jr., Charleston Southern
Second-Team All-Conference
F: Jackie Richards, Jr., Campbell
F: Magdalena Schwarz, Jr., High Point
F: Danielle Toone, Sr., Longwood
F: Emily Mashinski, Fr., High Point
MF: Chloe Le Franc, Sr., High Point
MF: Lily McLane, Sr., Radford
MF: Kaleigh Backlund, Fr., Campbell
MF: Gillian Oyos, Sr., UNC Asheville
D: Laney Peabody, Jr., Campbell
D: Erin Rush, Sr., Charleston Southern
D: Mary Tierney, Jr., Campbell
D: Marina Bradic, Sr., Gardner-Webb
GK: Lauren Seedlock, Sr., Radford
Honorable Mention All-Conference
Kaiya Boyd, F, Soph., UNC Asheville
Kennedy Dunnings, D, Jr., Radford
Anna Kate Highsmith, F, Fr., Winthrop
Ashley Finn, F, Soph., USC Upstate
Jenea Knight, F, Fr., Charleston Southern
All-Freshman Team
Kat Parris, F, Fr., Radford
Emily Mashinski, F, Fr., High Point
Kaleigh Backlund, MF, Fr., Campbell
Jenea Knight, F, Fr., Charleston Southern
Anna Kate Highsmith, F, Fr., Winthrop
Taylor Gardner, F, Fr., UNC Asheville
Brooke Bonner, D, Fr., Longwood
All-Academic Team
Jessica Donald, Sr., Campbell
Lauren McDonald, Jr., Charleston Southern
Michaela Stone, Sr., Gardner-Webb
Camille Pereira, Sr., Hampton
Skyler Prillaman, R-Jr., High Point
Madison Hommey, Gr., Longwood
Caroline Dipzinski, Sr., Presbyterian College
Brianna Oliver, Gr., Radford
Courtney O'Malley, Sr., UNC Asheville
Raegan Meyer, Soph., USC Upstate
Haley Hocking, R-Jr., Winthrop
Offensive Player of the Year
Maddie Turlington, F, Sr., Gardner-Webb
Goalkeeper of the Year
Jenna Moran, Jr., Charleston Southern
Defensive Player of the Year
Kayla Thomas, D, Sr., Radford
Freshman of the Year
Kat Parris, F, Fr., Radford
Coach of the Year
Samar Azem, Campbell
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Jessica Donald, F, Sr., Campbell