Kentucky’s Marissa Bosco and Evangeline Soucie Named All-SEC

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Freshmen Evangeline Soucie and Marissa Bosco were named to the Southeastern Conference’s All-Freshman Team, it was announced by the SEC office on Sunday afternoon. All 14 of the league coaches voted on the All-SEC teams, with each coach refraining from voting for its own team.

 The honor for Soucie is her second major honor of 2016, to go along with her National Team of the Week selection back in early September. Sunday’s award marks the first major national honor for Bosco in her Kentucky career.

Kentucky joins Arkansas (3rd place in league) and Auburn (2nd place in league) as the only three teams to have two players named to the All-Freshman Team.

Soucie finished the 2016 season with a 1.59 GAA in the net this season, the fifth-best for a Kentucky freshman goalkeeper in program history. The Milford, New Jersey native played in 16 matches, starting in all 16, with her two missed starts coming as the last two matches of the season due to a head injury suffered at Texas A&M in the 90th minute of a tied match. Soucie recorded one and a half shutouts on the season, and kept Kentucky in countless matches this season with her shot-saving abilities.

She had a season-high 11 saves in two different matches, vs. No. 5 Florida in Lexington and at No. 21 Missouri in Columbia. She also preserved a draw on the road with Vanderbilt midway through the SEC season with a spectacular diving save to her right in the final minute of double overtime to give the Wildcats a point on the road in the league.

Bosco, who is from Chicago, Illinois, scored three goals and had five assists this season, marking the most goals and assists for a freshman at Kentucky this season. Bosco scored vs. No. 23 South Florida in the third match of the season, and had goals in back-to-back matches at Vanderbilt and at Auburn in October.

Her five assists on the season came vs. USF in a three-point match for her, Long Beach State, Louisville, SEMO and Murray State. Her five assists were second on the team this season for UK, with Tanya Samarzich leading the Wildcats in both goals (seven) and assists (six) in 2016.

The league coaches voted South Carolina’s Savannah McCaskill the SEC Player of the Year, with the Gamecocks’ Shelley Smith named the SEC Coach of the Year after a perfect 11-0-0 regular season in the conference.

2016 Southeastern Conference Soccer Awards (voted on by coaches)

First Team All‐SEC

Forward: Kristen Dodson, Auburn

Forward: Savannah Jordan, Florida

Forward: Savannah McCaskill, South Carolina

Forward: Hannah Wilkinson, Tennessee

Midfielder: Claire Kelley, Arkansas

Midfielder: Casie Ramsier, Auburn

Midfielder: Meggie Dougherty Howard, Florida

Midfielder: Chelsea Drennan, South Carolina

Defender: Kiana Clarke, Auburn

Defender: Gabby Seiler, Florida

Defender: Paige Bendell, South Carolina

Defender: Kaleigh Kurtz, South Carolina

Goalkeeper: Mikayla Krzeczowski, South Carolina

At‐Large: Marion Crowder, Georgia

At‐Large: Melanie Donaldson, Missouri

Second Team All‐SEC

Forward: Mallory Eubanks, Mississippi State

Forward: Sarah Luebbert, Missouri

Forward: Sophie Groff, South Carolina

Forward: Haley Pounds, Texas A&M

Midfielder: Brooke Ramsier, Auburn

Midfielder: Summer Clarke, LSU

Midfielder: Gretchen Harknett, Ole Miss

Midfielder: Kaitlyn Clark, Missouri

Midfielder: Rylie O’Keefe, Tennessee

Defender: Jessi Hartzler, Arkansas

Defender: Qyara Winston, Arkansas

Defender: Caroline Waters, Georgia

Defender: Lauren Selaiden, Missouri

Goalkeeper: Sarah Le Beau, Auburn

Goalkeeper: Danielle Rice, Texas A&M

At‐Large: Kristen Cardano, Florida

At‐Large: Cristina DeZeeuw, Vanderbilt

All‐Freshman Team

Stefani Doyle, Arkansas

Kayla McKeon, Arkansas

Bri Folds, Auburn

Karli Gutsche, Auburn

Julia Lester, Florida

Marissa Bosco, Kentucky

Evangeline Soucie, Kentucky

Sarah Luebbert, Missouri

Mikayla Krzeczowski, South Carolina

Maya Neal, Tennessee

Grace Piper, Texas A&M

Grace Jackson, Vanderbilt

Coach of the Year: Shelley Smith, South Carolina

Offensive Player of the Year: Savannah McCaskill, South Carolina

Defensive Player of the Year: Kaleigh Kurtz, South Carolina

Freshman of the Year: Sarah Lu

For the latest on the Kentucky women’s soccer team, follow @UKWomensSoccer on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.