Southland Conference announces 2022 All-Conference Soccer Teams

FRISCO, Texas – Northwestern State’s Gracie Armstrong took Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year honors as the 2022 Southland Conference Women’s Soccer All-Conference Teams and superlative award winners were announced ahead of the conference tournament on Wednesday.

The graduate transfer had five goals and six assists in conference play and was the league leader in assists during the regular season with seven. She is the first player in conference history to win Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year in the same season and the fourth player to win both awards at any point in their career.

Regular season champions Lamar and runners-up Northwestern State led the conference with seven selections to the all-conference teams. Lamar head coach Nathan Kogut was named the league’s Coach of the Year after leading the Cardinals to their third regular season championship in the last five seasons, a 13-1-2 overall record and 10-1-1 (31 points) conference mark.

Northwestern State’s Olivia Draguicevich was named the Forward of the Year after leading the conference with 12 goals in 17 matches. Draguicevich is the second player to earn Forward of the Year twice in her career since the conference instituted the award in 2016.

The defensive efforts of Lamar’s championship were recognized as Arely Alaniz was named the Defender of the Year and Nicole Panis won Goalkeeper of the Year. Both players are the first Lamar student-athletes to win those awards. Alaniz led a unit that allowed a conference-low eight goals in regular season play, which ranks third in conference history for goals against average entering the conference tournament. Panis led the conference with a 0.52 GAA, a .887 save percentage, and eight shutouts.

Southeastern’s Mya Guillory was the winner of the Midfielder of the Year award with six goals and five assists on the season for the Lions. She is the second Southeastern player in succession to win this award, following Megan Gordon in 2021.

Texas A&M-Commerce’s Mya Mitchell rounded out the superlative award winners as the Freshman of the Year. She had eight goals and four assists on the season for the league newcomers, who finished in third place in the conference standings.

A total of 11 players in the all-conference teams were repeat honorees, led by Northwestern State defender Nicole Henry, who was selected to the All-Southland First Team for the fourth straight year. She is the eighth player in Southland Conference history to be named first team all-conference in four seasons, and the first from Northwestern State. Second team all-conference defender Hallie Field earned all-conference honors for the fourth season.

Three-time honorees include Natalee Henry of Northwestern State, Kaisa Juvonen of Lamar, Mya Guillory of Southeastern, Olivia Draguicevich of Northwestern State, and Keeley Ayala of UIW.

Two-time all-conference winners are Nicole Panis of Lamar, Delaney Wells of Northwestern State, Mia Salas of HCU, and Kiana Kukaua of McNeese.

Individual superlative winners and all-conference selections will be recognized before their first matches at the 2022 Southland Conference Soccer Tournament in Natchitoches, La., taking place Nov. 2-4-6.

The Southland Conference Soccer All-Conference Teams are nominated and voted upon by the league’s head coaches and SIDs.

Player of the Year:  Gracie Armstrong, Northwestern State
Freshman of the Year: Mya Mitchell, Texas A&M-Commerce
Newcomer of the Year: Gracie Armstrong, Northwestern State
Defender of the Year: Arely Alaniz, Lamar
Midfielder of the Year: Mya Guillory, Southeastern
Forward of the Year:  Olivia Draguicevich, Northwestern State
Goalkeeper of the Year: Nicole Panis, Lamar
Coach of the Year: Nathan Kogut, Lamar

2022 Southland Conference Soccer All-Conference Teams

First Team

Second Team

² – Two-time All-Southland selection
³ – Three-time All-Southland selection
⁴ – Four-time All-Southland selection