Cullowhee, N.C. – Highlighted by receiving the Southern Conference's Defensive Player and Coach of the Year honors, Western Carolina women's soccer collected a program-record eight postseason awards on Thursday as the league unveiled its
Scrappy midfielder Ava Robitaille led the way as the junior was named the SoCon Defensive Player of the Year, coupling the plaudit with a first-team All-SoCon selection. Head coach Chad Miller repeated as the SoCon Coach of the Year after guiding the Catamounts to back-to-back regular-season titles doing so with an unbeaten league record in 2024.
Joining Robitaille on the All-SoCon first team were Isabella DeMarco, Milla Syska, Naya Marcil, Becca Cambell, and Leanne Trudel. Redshirt freshman Malia Roberts earned all-freshman team plaudits from the league's head coaches. Combined, a conference-best seven Catamount players and Miller were all recognized on the eve of quarterfinal action taking place in both in Cullowhee and Birmingham, Ala.
Robitaille is the first Catamount to be named Defensive Player of the Year in the SoCon since the award was established in 2014. She earned the league's top honors in a season where the Catamount defense held opponents to only eight shots and 3.5 on frame per match. The Rock Hill, S.C. product stopped opposing offenses before they had a chance to get going, continually winning possession for the Purple and Gold through dominant aerial play. Lauded by Miller as one of the cores of the team, Robitaille chipped in two assists on the season against Georgia State and Gardner-Webb.
All three levels of the 2024 Catamount squad earned spots on the SoCon first team, as Isabella DeMarco, Milla Syska, Ava Robitaille, Naya Marcil, Becca Campbell, and Leanne Trudel represented their respective positions on the pitch.
DeMarco earned her third consecutive first-team all-conference honors, becoming the first Catamount and only the 28th player in the 30-year history of SoCon women's soccer to do so. She earns her lofty placement after collecting seven goals and seven assists on the season, including the game-winning goal against Furman to clinch WCU's second-consecutive regular season title.
Fellow forward Milla Syska earned her first postseason honors after a breakout season where the junior striker led the Catamounts with 10 goals and 23 points. She finished the 2024 regular season with the second-most points in the SoCon as one of only two players to record double-digit goals. Syska had one of the biggest goals of the season against the Longwood Lancers, knocking in a Naya Marcil corner kick with only 15 seconds to go to preserve an undefeated home season.
Robitaille was joined in her first-team All-SoCon midfield honor by Naya Marcil, who collected her second consecutive first-team honor after another productive offensive season. One of three Canadian-born Catamounts to earn representation on the top postseason honorary team, Marcil posted seven goals and four assists in 2024. The senior Quebec product went 3-for-3 on penalty kicks on the year, setting the single-season school record for both PK makes and attempts.
Becca Campbell and Leanne Trudel joined their fellow "North of the Border" honoree on the first team, with Campbell collecting her second consecutive first-team honor in only two years in Cullowhee. Campbell captained an elite defensive effort for the Catamounts in 2024 as the team rolled to a conference and school record-tying total of 13 shutouts in their 18 matches, surrendering just one goal against in SoCon play. The Alberta native also contributed offensively this season, posting three goals and three assists in a career year.
Trudel collected her second post-season honor – but her first career first-team honor after pacing the SoCon's keepers the entire season. The junior netminder only allowed eight goals in the 2024 regular season, conceding a solo marker in conference play. Her elite goals-against average of 0.46 is the only mark in the conference below 1.00 among keepers who have played 1000+ minutes and would set a school record if she maintains it throughout the remainder of the season.
Redshirt freshman Malia Roberts was the only Catamount to earn a spot on the All-Freshman Team this season, doing so after seeing the field for 511 minutes in the campaign. Roberts collected an assist against VMI while taking 11 shots, putting five on frame in her second year in Cullowhee.
Chad Miller collected his second-consecutive SoCon Coach of the Year nod from his peers after an incredible regular-season run for the Purple and Gold. The preseason favorites to win the league, the Catamounts exceeded expectations en route to a 13-2-3 record, going undefeated at the Catamount Athletic Complex (7-0-2) and in conference play (8-0-1) in the process. He became the second head coach in WCU soccer history to earn the award last season, joining the program's first-ever head coach Debbie Hensley in the honor – but is now WCU's first coach to earn multiple honors.
Top-seeded Western Carolina returns to action on quarterfinal Friday, hosting a pair of matches at the on-campus Catamount Athletics Complex. At 4 pm, fourth-seeded Mercer squares-off against fifth-seeded Chattanooga for the right to advance to Sunday's semifinal round that will also be held in Cullowhee. WCU meets No. 8 seed Wofford at 7 p.m., in the nightcap with the winner also advancing into Sunday's round.
Mercer claimed a 2-0 victory over Chattanooga in the regular season in Macon, Ga., back on Oct. 3, in the first meeting between the two. The Catamounts disposed of Wofford 6-1 in Spartanburg back on Oct. 13. The Terriers were the only SoCon team to find the back of the cage against WCU in the regular season, halting the Catamounts' nine-game shutout streak in the process.
For more information on the 2024 Southern Conference Women's Soccer Championship, log onto www.SoConSports.com.
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