Five Stony Brook Women’s Soccer players took home America East All-Conference Awards when the winners were announced on Wednesday afternoon.
Freshman goalkeeper Sofia Manner won the conference’s Rookie of the Year honors, joining former midfielder Sarah Greenberg (2000) as the only other Seawolf to do so. In 17 overall appearances this season, Manner has tallied 66 saves and four shutouts. Her 0.88 goals against average in regular season matches was good for the best mark in the conference.
“[Manner] has had a great season for us,” head coach Brendan Faherty said. “She’s been a big part for the way we play out of the back. She’s super comfortable with her feet. I think she’s brought a common presence to our ability to keep the ball, which is strange to say about a goalkeeper, but she’s brought that for us.”
Manner was also one of three Stony Brook players named to the conference’s All-Rookie team, along with freshman forwards Alyssa Francese and Fanny Gotesson. No other team had more than two players on the list.
Francese scored a team-high eight goals during the regular season, the most among America East rookies and fourth-most out of all players in the conference. Gotesson played in 11 matches during the regular season and notched four assists. She’s tied for most on the team with freshman midfielder Kimmy Chavkin.
In addition to the team’s rookie standouts winning conference awards, senior defender Franki Priore and junior defender Kaitlin Loughren were both named to the America East Second Team. Loughren and Priore finished first and third in minutes on the team respectively, and the pair helped anchor a defense that allowed an America East-best seven goals in conference play. Priore also won the America East Fans’ Choice Player of the Year.
Priore started in all 18 matches she played, coming off the field in just one of the team’s final seven matches of the regular season. Loughren started in all 18 regular season matches, picking up a goal against Dartmouth and an assist against UMBC along the way.
“I think we have a group of young women who have trained really hard and are now being rewarded for their individual performances on the field,” Faherty said. “A lot of that is because they’re so bought into this team.”
Stony Brook defeated No. 4-seeded Hartford 2-0 in the first round of the America East Tournament, preserving Manner’s fourth shutout. The award-winning team hopes to continue to make a positive impact this season when they take on No. 1-seeded New Hampshire at Bremner Field in Durham, New Hampshire on Sunday at 2 p.m.
