CCU

Women's Soccer Earns Player, Coach of the Year; Nine Different Lady Chants Earn All-Big South Honors

           

Women's Soccer Earns Player, Coach of the Year; Nine Different Lady Chants Earn All-Big South Honors

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- The Coastal Carolina University women’s soccer team had a total of nine players selected to the All-Big South First and Second Teams and the All-Freshman team, while the Lady Chants garnered Player of the Year and Coach of the Year honors, its was announced at the Big South Tournament Banquet Nov. 7 in Charleston, S.C. 

  Senior Ashleigh Gunning (Baton Rouge, La./Magnet (LSU)) was named the Big South Player of the Year, while head coach Rohan Naraine was named the BSC Coach of the Year. Gunning, junior Blair Monroe (Little River, S.C./North Myrtle Beach) and junior Chelsea Terry (Charleston, S.C./James Island) were named to the All-Big South First Team, while sophomore Maegen Hellberg (Charlotte, N.C./Providence), redshirt junior Emily McColl (Wellington, New Zealand/Hutt Valley) and senior Emma Humphries (Wellington, New Zealand/Samuel Marsden College (Cal State Fullerton)) were Second Team selection. Selected to the Big South All-Freshman Team were Amy Haggard (Sylva, N.C./Smoky Mountain), Anna Tupy (Alexandria, Va./Thomas Edison) and Sara Niles (Elgin, Ill./Elgin).   Gunning is the first Coastal player in school history to earn Player of the Year honors. She has played and started in 18 games this season and is tied for the Big South lead with 13 goals, nine assists and 35 points. She was named the Big South Player of the Week after scoring a hat trick in Coastal’s 3-2 win over Wagner Sept. 14. She scored two goals in the season opener against Wofford and had a goal and an assist in the win over north Florida Sept. 16. Gunning had three assists in the 6-1 win over High Point Oct. 8. She scored the game-winning goal on Senior Day in a 1-0 win over Radford Nov. 3. Gunning was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District First Team and was one of 20 women’s soccer seniors named to the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Watch List. Gunning is two points away from becoming Coastal’s single-season points leader. Gunning was selected to the All-Big South First Team for the second straight season.   Gunning also was selected to the Academic All-Big South team. She has a 3.81 grade-point-average in communications with a minor in journalism.   Naraine has guided Coastal to 13 wins the past two seasons and its first outright Big South regular-season title. It is the third Coach of the Year honor by a CCU leader, as Karrie Miller earned that honor in 2000 and 2003.    This is the third straight First Team honor for Monroe. She joins Candice Doten and Bobbie Parsons as three-time First Team honorees. Monroe has played in all 19 games with 18 starts for the Lady Chants. She has scored nine goals and two assists for 20 points in 2007. She has six game-winning goals, which leads the Big South. Monroe was named the Big South Player of the Week Oct. 2 after scoring three straight game-winning goals Sept. 25-30. Monroe had a hat trick in a 6-1 win over High Point Oct. 8, which was the third of her career. She had the game-winner in a 2-1 win over North Florida Sept. 16 and had a goal and an assist against The Citadel Sept. 12. Monroe is tied for fifth in the Big South in goals and is tied for seventh in points.    Terry earned First Team honors after garnering a Second Team selection the past two years. She has played and started in all 19 games for Coastal, one of three Lady Chants to start every CCU game. Terry has played every minute of every game except for one and has helped the Coastal defense to nine shutouts and a 1.14 goals-against average. Terry had an assist on the game-winning goal in a 2-1 win over Longwood Sept. 30.   Hellberg also has started all 19 games for the Lady Chants and earns Second Team honors after being named to the All-Freshman Team last year. She has two goals and an assist for five points, scoring her first career goal in a 2-0 win over UNC Asheville Oct. 6. Hellberg added a goal in a 2-0 win over USC Upstate Oct. 31 and had an assist in the season opener against Wofford Sept. 3. Like Terry, Hellberg has helped the Coastal defense to nine shutouts and a 1.14 goals-against average.  She also is one of three Lady Chants to start all 19 games.   Humphries missed the first eight games due to playing for Team New Zealand in the Women’s World Cup, but returned to score three goals and add three assist in 11 games for the Lady Chanticleers. Humphries had the game-winner in a 1-0 defeat of Liberty Oct. 27 and added a goal and an assist in the 2-0 win over VMI Sept. 29. She scored a goal and added two assists in the 6-1 win over High Point Oct. 8.    McColl, like Humphries, missed the first eight games while being in China for the Women’s World Cup. She has come back to play in seven games and had an assist in the 6-1 win over High Point Oct. 8. McColl has played in five Big South games and has attempted 12 shots on the year. She was the runner-up for the Big South Preseason Player of the Year and was selected to the All-Big South Tournament team last season.   Coastal had three All-Freshman Team honors after having one (Hellberg) last year.   Haggard has played in 16 games for the Lady Chants in goal and leads the Big South with a 0.83 goals-against average. Haggard has six shutouts on the season, which ties Coastal’s single-season shutout record and has allowed just 11 goals in 1,198 minutes. She stopped six shots in a 2-0 win over Winthrop Oct. 20 and has 42 saves on the year. Haggard is 12-2 in goal and had five saves in a 2-1 win over North Florida Sept. 16.   Tupy is one of three Lady Chants to start all 19 games this season and has assists in wins over North Florida Sept. 16 and USC Upstate Oct. 31. She has taken 11 shots on the year and had two shots apiece in wins over VMI and at Winthrop.   Niles has played in all 19 games with 17 starts and has two assists on the year. She had an assist in the season opener against Wofford Sept. 3 and at USC Upstate Oct. 31. She also has four shots from the midfield this season.   In other specialty awards, Charleston Southern’s Michelle Dennis was named the Big South Freshman of the Year, while High Point’s Alex Torriero was the Big South Scholar-Athlete of the Year.   Coastal is the top seed in the 2007 Big South Tournament and faces eighth-seeded VMI Thursday, Nov. 8 at 2 p.m.