Griz collect conference, region and national awards
12/5/2014 12:00:00 AM | Soccer
With this weekend's NCAA College Cup in Boca Raton, Fla., and national semifinal matches between Virginia and Texas A&M and Stanford and Florida State providing the backdrop, postseason soccer awards continue to be announced, and Montana continues to earn plenty of recognition.
The weightiest of those was announced Friday, when senior defender Brooke Moody, who was one of 10 national finalists for the award that recognizes a student-athlete's excellence in balancing classroom, community, character and competition, was named a second-team Senior CLASS All-American.
The award capped a season-long tour de force for Moody, who played every minute of every match at center back while leading Montana to a 12-6-2 record and an outright Big Sky Conference regular-season championship with an undefeated league record of 8-0-2.
Moody, who has a 3.8 GPA as a psychology major, and the Grizzlies finished the season with an RPI of 116, the second-highest ranking in program history.
The Big Sky Conference co-Defensive MVP, Moody was one of three Grizzlies to earn National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) All-Pacific Region honors this week.
Moody, senior midfielder Tyler Adair, who was unanimous first-team All-Big Sky, and freshman Hallie Widner, first-team All-Big Sky and the league's Newcomer of the Year, were all voted third-team All-Pacific Region.
It matched the most all-region selections for Montana in program history. Shannon Forslund, Misty Hall and Heidi Melville were voted all-region in 1999.
College Sports Madness also announced its All-Big Sky Conference selections recently, and they largely reflected those voted by the league's coaches last month.
Fourth-year coach Mark Plakorus, whose team hosted the conference tournament for the first time since 2000, was named the Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year, and Widner, who led Montana in scoring with seven goals and 17 points, was named Freshman of the Year.
Earning first-team All-Big Sky honors by College Sports Madness were Moody, Adair, senior midfielder Chloe Torres and junior midfielder Mackenzie Akins, who finished second on the team in scoring behind Widner with four goals and four assists.
Widner was named to the second team, as was redshirt sophomore defender Mary Gintz, who averaged more than 76 minutes per game at outside back as Montana finished with 10 shutouts, most in the Big Sky.
The final postseason awards to be announced later this month will be the NSCAA's Scholar All-Region teams. Lauren Costa was a first-team All-West Region selection in 2012, Maddey Frey a second-team pick in 2013.
