As the Saint Louis University women’s soccer (13-5-1) team keeps
rolling through the postseason, the awards and accolades are just
starting to roll in.
After finishing the season atop Conference USA, SLU is beginning
to receive recognition for the players that made their impressive
run possible.
The top award of the Billikens’ seven conference winners went to
sophomore Courtney Hulcer, who was named the C-USA defensive player
of the year. As a midfielder and sweeper, Hulcer scored three goals
and six assists. More impressive, though, are the numbers she
helped keep off the board. In a span of 10 conference games, nine
of which the Bills won, SLU allowed an astronomically low two
goals–largely due to Hulcer’s contributions on the defensive end
of the pitch.
“Really, it was a surprise. I didn’t think I played a whole lot
of defense,” joked Hulcer. “But it is a great honor.”
The defense, which proved so important to SLU’s success, stacks
up with national competition as well. Their shutout percentage,
which amounted to over 60 percent of their games, ranked sixth in
the NCAA. Another benefactor of this statistic was junior
goalkeeper Amanda Martin, who collected 10 shutouts; Martin, Hulcer
and Dee Guempel were named to the C-USA first team. Guempel, who
was honored more for her offensive accomplishments, set the tone
and top marks for the SLU attack, scoring 22 points.
Also recognized by the C-USA second team was SLU’s all-time
leading scorer, senior Jamie Perry along with junior midfielder
Kelly Ferguson. Perry put in seven goals, with Ferguson close
behind her with six. The Bills also collected two freshman honors
with Shannon VanMatre and Cassi Winchell as part of the
all-freshman team.
Finally, head coach Tim Champion was honored as C-USA coach of
the year for the second time during his nine-year tenure at
SLU.
“I think the awards we’ve won really speak to our defense as a
whole. We’ve been playing extremely well,” Hulcer said.
Though the awards are well-deserved, the players are more
concerned with earning some hardware the entire team can enjoy–a
C-USA tournament trophy and a trip to the NCAAs.
