SAC Women’s Soccer Award Winners Headlined by Wingate’s Montgomery

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Wingate sophomore Jade Montgomery has been named the SAC Women's Soccer Player of the Year, leading Wednesday's announcement of the conference's 2012 award winners.

Montgomery was an offensive force during the regular season for Wingate, finishing with a SAC-best 18 goals and 42 points. She was Division II's leading goal scorer during the regular season and finished tied for fifth nationally in points.

Montgomery also notched six game-winners in 2012, the most in the conference and second-highest total in Division II. She had five multi-goal matches during the regular season, including hat tricks on Sept. 22 against Carson-Newman and Oct. 10 at Catawba.

[RELATED: SAC Soccer Championship Central]

The SAC's second and third-leading goal scorers this season – Lenoir-Rhyne's Leah Mullins and Tusculum's Tramicka James – joined Montgomery in earning All-SAC First Team forward accolades. James finished second in the conference and tied for fifth in Division II with five game-winning goals during the regular season, while Mullins recorded 11 goals and three assists, earning her the conference's Freshman of the Year award as well.

James, a senior, has now been selected to three-straight All-SAC First Teams.

Anderson's Krystal Goss and Wingate's Shelby Forza tied in the voting for the final first-team All-SAC forward spot. Goss scored eight goals during the regular season, while Forza netted seven.

In addition to Mullins, five more players from regular-season champion Lenoir-Rhyne earned spots on the All-SAC First Team in midfielders Hanna Kiebel and Carley Griffin, defenders Brianna Belsky and Amber Madriaga, and keeper Caitlin Scruggs.

Belsky, Madriaga and Scruggs anchored an L-R defense that allowed just two goals in conference matches and finished fourth in the nation with an overall goals-against average of 0.38 per match. Scruggs led Division II with a save percentage of 92.3-percent, while Griffin was an All-SAC First Team pick for the second-straight season.

Two Newberry players – midfielder Gabrielle Brodie and defender Cassie Smith – were named to the All-SAC First Team, as were Lincoln Memorial midfielder Josefin Hedstrom and Wingate defender Kelly Moldenhauer.

Brodie finished fourth in the SAC with nine goals in the regular season, while Hedstrom scored four times. Smith and Moldenhauer led two of the conference's stingiest defenses, as Newberry and Wingate tied for the third-fewest goals allowed with 16.

Moldenhauer's selection to the First Team was the senior's third-straight.

Catawba and Anderson, which finished fourth and fifth in the SAC standings respectively, had the most All-SAC Second Team picks with three apiece.

First-year Lenoir-Rhyne head coach Cally Morrill was voted as the conference's Coach of the Year. Morrill's L-R team went 13-1-2 overall and spent most of the regular season in the national polls, including a No. 11 ranking this week.

SAC Player of the Year: Jade Montgomery, Wingate

SAC Freshman of the Year: Leah Mullins, Lenoir-Rhyne

SAC Coach of the Year: Cally Morrill, Lenoir-Rhyne

All-SAC First Team

Forward

Jade Montgomery, Wingate

Tramicka James, Tusculum

Leah Mullins, Lenoir-Rhyne

Shelby Forza, Wingate*

Krystal Goss, Anderson*

Midfielder

Hanna Kiebel, Lenoir-Rhyne

Gabrielle Brodie, Newberry

Josefin Hedstrom, Lincoln Memorial

Carley Griffin, Lenoir-Rhyne

Defender

Kelly Moldenhauer, Wingate

Brianna Belsky, Lenoir-Rhyne

Amber Madriaga, Lenoir-Rhyne

Cassie Smith, Newberry

Goalkeeper

Caitlin Scruggs, Lenoir-Rhyne

All-SAC Second Team

Forward

Garcelle Alequine, Lenoir-Rhyne

Juliana Conte, Catawba

Kendall Smith, Lenoir-Rhyne

Midfielder

Sophie Waller, Catawba

Alisha Pugh, Tusculum

Alyssa Morris, Mars Hill

Summer Miller, Anderson

Defender

Anna Toole, Catawba

Kourtney Kavic, Tusculum

Adrienne Lough, Anderson

Sam Adams, Lincoln Memorial

Goalkeeper

Kaitlyn Neipp, Anderson

* Tied for final first-team forward spot

SAC Stat Champions

Goals per Match: Jade Montgomery, Wingate (1.29)

Points per Match: Jade Montgomery, Wingate (3.00)

Assists per Match: Alyssa Morris, Mars Hill (0.44)

Goals Against Average: Caitlin Scruggs, Lenoir-Rhyne (0.42)

Save Percentage: Caitlin Scruggs, Lenoir-Rhyne (.913)

Shutouts: Marissa Williams, Tusculum (6)

Team Points per Match: Wingate (8.53)

Team Goals per Match: Wingate (3.00)

Team Assists per Match: Wingate (2.53)

Team Shutouts: Anderson/Lenoir-Rhyne (10)

Team Goals Against Average: Lenoir-Rhyne (0.48)

Team Winning Percentage: Wingate (.900)

Fair Play Award: Lincoln Memorial