Eight Saint Louis University women’s soccer student-athletes, including three first-team selections, earned Atlantic 10 Conference postseason honors as announced by the league office Thursday.
In addition, sixth-year head coach Katie Shields was named Coach of the Year after guiding the Billikens to a school-record-tying 16 wins and the A-10 regular-season title with a 10-0-0 conference record.
Junior defender Alli Klug was tabbed Defensive Player of the Year for a second straight season, giving Saint Louis three consecutive recipients after Kacey Bright won the award in 2016. Klug joins Courtney Hulcer (2005, 2006) as a two-time A-10 Defensive Player of the Year from SLU.
Junior goalkeeper Olivia Silverman and junior midfielder Courtney Reimer joined Klug on the All-Conference first team. Silverman’s selection gives Saint Louis the A-10’s first-team All-Conference goalkeeper for a third consecutive season, following Mary Niehaus in 2016 and 2017. Reimer garnered her third A-10 postseason honor after making the 2017 second team and the 2016 All-Rookie team.
Senior forward Maddie Pokorny earned a spot on the All-Conference second team for a third straight year and was joined on the squad by freshman forward Hannah Friedrich and sophomore midfielder Olivia Petit. Freshman defender Isabel Burke joined Friedrich on the All-Rookie team as the Billikens placed two players on that unit for a second successive year.
Also for a second consecutive season, junior forward Alyssa Seitzer was chosen to the 11-member A-10 All-Academic team by the conference’s women’s soccer sports information representatives.
Saint Louis tied the program record it set last year with six student-athletes on the All-Conference first and second teams combined. The Billikens’ three first-team choices tied for the second most in program history.
Klug, who was named to the 2018 Hermann Trophy Watch List, has played 1,795 of a possible 1,820 minutes this season. Her performance along the back line helped lift Saint Louis to the top of the A-10 in goals against average (0.49, 13th in the nation) and shutouts (school-record-tying 13, tied for first in the nation).
Eight of SLU’s clean sheets, including each of the last six games, are against A-10 opponents, who have scored only three goals against the Billikens this season. Klug and her teammates allow just 5.0 total shots, 2.7 shots on goal and 1.9 corner kicks per game.
Silverman leads the conference in goals against average (0.47), save percentage (.820), wins (15) and shutouts (11). A two-time A-10 Defensive Player of the Week this season, she ranks third in shutouts and 13th in GAA in NCAA Division I. On the Billikens’ all-time single-season lists, Silverman is tied for first in wins and tied for second in shutouts.
Reimer is second on the team and tied for ninth in the A-10 with five assists. She also has three goals and ranks fourth on the team with 11 points. A key component of the Billikens’ set pieces, Reimer has netted two game-winning goals this season.
Reimer now has 15 career assists, tying for ninth all-time at SLU. Three of her helpers this season came on game-winning goals, giving her six for her career to tie for sixth in Billiken history.
Pokorny is enjoying her best season. She ranks third on the team in goals (eight) and points (18), both career highs. In the A-10, Pokorny is seventh in goals, tied for seventh in game-winning goals (three) and tied for 10th in points. She scored seven of her eight goals in the A-10 regular season to lead the team.
Pokorny tops the league in shots (74, third on SLU’s all-time single-season list) and shots on goal (38), and she ranks 45th nationally in shots on goal per game (1.90). She is third in shots (217), tied for eighth in goals (19) and tied for ninth in game-winning goals (seven) on the Saint Louis career charts.
Friedrich, who earned three A-10 Rookie of the Week awards and an Offensive Player of the Week nod this season, established herself as one of the top offensive players among the nation’s freshmen. She leads the Billikens in goals (10), assists (seven) and points (27); her goals and assists totals are fourth highest, and her points total is sixth highest, among NCAA Division I rookies.
Friedrich is tied for second in goals, assists and points, tied for fourth in shots on goal (31), seventh in shots (53) and tied for seventh in game-winning goals (three) in the A-10. Tied for fourth on SLU’s single-season points list, she needs just three points to break Jamie Perry’s record of 29 (2002, 2003). Friedrich also is tied for sixth on the Billikens’ single-season goals list.
Petit missed four games due to injury but bounced back well. She has nine points (3G, 3A) on the season, and two of her three goals were game-winners.
Burke’s 1,730 minutes are second only to Klug. In addition to her contributions to the Billikens’ league-leading defense, she has a goal and three assists. Burke collected an A-10 Defensive Player of the Week honor this season.
A nursing major with a 3.94 grade point average, Seitzer was Saint Louis’ leading goal-scorer before suffering a season-ending injury in the Billikens’ 15th game. She leads the team in game-winning goals (four) and ranks second with nine goals and 19 points.
Despite missing the last five games, Seitzer is tied for third in game-winning goals, tied for fourth in goals and tied for sixth in points in the A-10. She is 18th in shot-on-goal percentage (.641), 45th in goals per game (0.6) and 46th in game-winning goals in the national rankings. Seitzer earned an A-10 Offensive Player of the Week award this season.
Shields has a 67-39-10 record at SLU, including 45-10-5 the past three seasons. The 45 wins are the most in the conference during that period. SLU’s A-10 regular-season record the past three seasons is 24-3-3. In addition, Shields has directed the Billikens to a school-record 12 consecutive victories, the nation’s longest active winning streak in NCAA Division I women’s soccer.
Saint Louis takes on George Mason in the A-10 Championship semifinals Friday, Nov. 2, at noon (CT) in Dayton, Ohio.
