Fayetteville, NC – The USA South Athletic Conference has released the 2014 All-Conference list in women’s soccer with five Lady Lions taking spots on the prestigious listing after a 10-1-1 campaign in the league that saw Piedmont force a share of the league’s regular season crown. Seniors KELSEY SCHAFFERNOTH and SHAYNA ROGERS join fellow All-Conference honorees SAVANNAH CASTLES, MICHAELA GARDNER, and ABBEY DUNLOP as the five make it two straight years that PC has seen exactly five make the listing.
As the only Lady Lion to take 1st team honors and also hold the team’s All-Sportsmanship spot, Schaffernoth earns a spot on the top listing as a defender after Piedmont wrapped up its best defensive season of the NCAA Era surpassing the previous top year of 2010 when the Lady Lions set a record goals against average of 0.59. Four years later, this season’s version led by the senior centerback in Schaffernoth bested that mark by just one hundredth of a difference as Piedmont allowed a goals against average as a team of 0.58 allowing just 12 goals in more than 1,850 minutes of action.
One of three Lady Lions to take 2nd team honors, Schaffernoth’s classmate SHAYNA ROGERS spent her 2014 season patrolling the midfield for PC with her most productive season ever as a Lady Lion. Rogers tallied a team-high seven assists to go with four goals of her own. One of those four scores came in a game-winning effort as she found the back of the net in overtime to help Piedmont secure the first of 10 league wins on the season knocking off Ferrum at home, 1-0.
Also taking a 2nd team spot as a midfielder was sophomore SAVANNAH CASTLES who was Piedmont’s second-leading scorer on the squad despite missing four games in the middle of the season. A native of nearby Helen, Castles scored seven including two gamewinners to go with her five assists as she topped the team in total points with 19 on the year.
A no-brainer at the goalkeeping position for the All-Conference listing, Piedmont’s MICHAELA GARDNER becomes the third different goalkeeper at PC to take All-Conference honors since the 2010 season. Gardner posted nine solo shutouts on the year and earned a save percentage of .867, both of which were second only to 1st team selection and Rookie of the Year Jaisa Loch of Meredith. Piedmont has now had an All-Conference selection at the goalkeeping spot in six of the last seven seasons.
Only a first year player for Head Coach Stephen Andrew, youngster ABBEY DUNLOP stepped into big shoes left by departing centerback from 2013 and three-year starter LYNDSEY NICHOLS who helped PC to a pair of seasons with goals against averages below 0.85. However, the youngster did not miss a beat carrying on a growing tradition at PC of solid defensive work as she played in all 20 games for the Lady Lions making 19 starts at the centerback spot as just a freshman on the way to her All-Conference honor.
Having earned a share of the USA South Regular Season title this season and taken the #2 seed in the league’s Championship Tournament, PC was upset in the tourney’s quarterfinal round by North Carolina Wesleyan College. After the two battled to a scoreless draw through 110 minutes, the Battling Bishops earned the right to advance with a 3-1 decision in penalty kicks. PC wraps up 2014 with a 14-4-2 overall record marking the 7th consecutive season that the Lady Lions have earned 13 or more victories in a season.
The 2014 USA South Women’s Soccer All-Conference Team:
First Team Second Team Honorable Mention
Forward
Allyson Hale, Maryville
Sierra Siegel, Maryville
Rebecca Staylor, N.C. Wesleyan
Midfielder
Taylor Cavazos, Methodist
Morgan Funck, Ferrum
Danielle Lee, Meredith
Defender
Eleni Mavres, Maryville
KELSEY SCHAFFERNOTH, Piedmont
Anna Smither, Meredith
Eryka Underwood, Methodist
Goalkeeper
Jaisa Loch, Meredith Forward
Allison Gibson, Greensboro
Meredith McCarty, Meredith
Deycasha Miller, Methodist
Anna Porch, Covenant
Midfielder
SAVANNAH CASTLES, Piedmont
SHAYNA ROGERS, Piedmont
Lizzy Simmons, Maryville
Defender
Megan Luke, Meredith
Mackenzie Hutton, Maryville
Cathrine Onarheim, Averett
Goalkeeper
MICHAELA GARDNER, Piedmont Forward
Megan Amanatides, Meredith
Amanda Gustavsson, Averett
Johanna Ohrnberg, Averett
Cassie Poindexter, Methodist
Midfielder
Sarah Olsowski, N.C. Wesleyan
Cassie Padilla, Meredith
Melanie Raton, Greensboro
Elizabeth Torres, Greensboro
Defender
Caitlyn Cook, Greensboro
ABBEY DUNLOP, Piedmont
Danielle Hickman, N.C. Wesleyan
Jamison Kidd, Meredith
Kortney Maggard, Methodist
Goalkeeper
Sarah Hovis, N.C. Wesleyan
All-Sportsmanship
Minja Antikainen, Averett
Andrea Hunt, Covenant
Ae’Niesha Mar, Ferrum
Sydney Boggs, Greensboro
Madi Critcher, Huntingdon
Rebecca Sanders, LaGrange
Lauren Dawson, Mary Baldwin
Megan Nugent, Maryville
Megan Luke, Meredith
Leslie Coates, Methodist
Cissi Edehult, N.C. Wesleyan
KELSEY SCHAFFERNOTH, Piedmont
Ashley Piers, William Peace
