Big Ten Announces 2021 Women’s Soccer Postseason Honors
Michigan State, Purdue and Rutgers each had individual award recipients
ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Big Ten Conference announced the 2021 Women’s Soccer All-Big Ten Teams and individual honors Thursday, with Big Ten champion Rutgers earning four individual accolades, according to a vote of the conference’s 14 head coaches. The Scarlet Knights’ Frankie Tagliaferri was selected as the Midfielder of the Year, Gabby Provenzano collected Defender of the Year honors, Riley Tiernan was chosen as Freshman of the Year, and Mike O’Neill was voted Coach of the Year. In addition, Purdue’s Sarah Griffith was named Forward of the Year and Michigan State’s Lauren Kozal earned Goalkeeper of the Year accolades.
Griffith is the second Boilermaker in five seasons to be chosen Forward of the Year, following in the footsteps of 2017 recipient Maddy Williams. A senior from Naperville, Ill., Griffith leads the Big Ten this season in goals (13), goals per game (0.76), shots (82) and shots per game (4.82), while ranking second in the conference in both points (28) and points per game (1.65). During Big Ten play, she led the conference in goals (8), goals per game (0.80), points (18), points per game (1.80), shots (51) and shots per game (5.10).
One of seven Big Ten student-athletes on the preseason Hermann Trophy Watch List, Tagliaferri has made the most of her lone season at Rutgers, finishing atop the conference in points (31) and points per game (1.82), second in goals (12), goals per game (0.71) and fourth in assists (7), assists per game (0.41), shots (64) and shots per game (3.76). The Colts Neck, N.J., native is also a finalist for the Senior CLASS Award and is the first Scarlet Knight named the Big Ten Midfielder of the Year.
In her final season in Piscataway, Provenzano was an integral part of a Rutgers defense that has allowed just 12 goals in 17 matches and tied for second in the Big Ten with nine shutouts. Dating back to 2019, RU has also held its last 45 opponents to single-digit shots on goal. A candidate for this year’s Senior CLASS Award, Provenzano is originally from Sergeantsville, N.J., and is the second Rutgers student-athlete to garner Defender of the Year honors, the first since Erica Skroski in 2015.
Kozal has been a key contributor to a resurgent Michigan State squad that finished fourth in the Big Ten standings with a 5-4-1 conference record, its best Big Ten finish and record since 2011 when MSU placed third with a 7-4-0 mark. Kozal leads the conference with an .862 save percentage, while ranking second in saves (75) and saves per game (4.41), third in goals against average (0.68) and fourth in shutouts (7) and shutouts per game (0.41). A junior hailing from Ada, Mich., Kozal is not only the first Spartan to receive Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Year honors, but the first MSU student-athlete to earn one of the conference’s current individual women’s soccer awards since 2008, when Laura Heyboer was the unanimous choice as Freshman of the Year.
Tiernan wasted little time in contributing to Rutgers’ offensive success this season, as the playmaking forward leads the Big Ten in assists (10) and assists per game (0.59), in addition to ranking seventh in points per game (1.06) and eighth in points (18), shots (52) and shots per game (3.06). Half of Tiernan’s 10 assists (0.50 per game) came in conference play, also good for tops in the Big Ten. The Voorhees, N.J., resident continues a string of Scarlet Knights voted Big Ten Freshman of the Year as the fourth RU student-athlete in six seasons to secure the award, along with Nicole Whitley (2016), Amirah Ali (2017) and Meagan McClelland (2018).
O’Neill is the first Rutgers coach to be selected as Big Ten Coach of the Year by his peers. Now in his eighth season at the helm in Piscataway, O’Neill has guided the Scarlet Knights, who are up to No. 6 in the latest United Soccer Coaches poll, to a 15-2-0 record, including a 10-0-0 mark during the Big Ten slate. Rutgers won not only its first Big Ten title (and the first for the school in any sport), but also became the first conference team to go undefeated and untied in Big Ten play since 2005 (when Penn State finished 10-0-0).
Griffith, Tagliaferri, Provenzano, Kozal and Tiernan earned spots on the All-Big Ten First Team and were joined by Michigan’s Raleigh Loughman and Alia Martin, Penn State’s Kerry Abello and Sam Coffey, Purdue’s Emily Mathews and Rutgers’ Amirah Ali. The complete All-Big Ten teams, including the Big Ten All-Freshman Team, can be found in the attached document.
The Big Ten also recognized 14 Sportsmanship Award honorees. The students chosen are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. These students must also be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. The complete list of honorees can be found in the attached PDF file.
The Big Ten Tournament kicks off Sunday with four quarterfinal matches at campus sites around the conference. Big Ten Network and the FOX Sports app will televise a 3 p.m. (ET) quarterfinal featuring second-seeded Purdue welcoming No. 7 seed Ohio State, with the other three quarterfinals (to be played at No. 1 seed Rutgers, No. 3 Michigan and No. 4 Michigan State) will be broadcast live on BTN’s digital subscription service, B1G+ (more details available at bigtenplus.com).
The highest remaining seed following the quarterfinals will then play host to the semifinals (Nov. 4; 1:30 and 4 p.m. ET) and championship match (Nov. 7; 2 p.m. ET), with all three contests televised live on BTN and the FOX Sports app. The winner of the 2021 Big Ten Tournament will earn the conference’s automatic berth into this year’s NCAA Tournament.
2021 WOMEN’S SOCCER ALL-BIG TEN TEAMS AND INDIVIDUAL HONORS
Coach of the Year: Mike O’Neill, Rutgers
Forward of the Year: Sarah Griffith, Sr., Purdue
Midfielder of the Year: Frankie Tagliaferri, Sr., Rutgers
Defender of the Year: Gabby Provenzano, Sr., Rutgers
Goalkeeper of the Year: Lauren Kozal, Jr., Michigan State
Freshman of the Year: Riley Tiernan, Rutgers
All-Big Ten Teams
First Team Second Team Third Team*
Forward Sarah Griffith, Purdue Nicki Hernandez, Michigan Alyssa Walker, Iowa
Amirah Ali, Rutgers Ava Cook, Michigan State Kailyn Dudukovich, Ohio State
Riley Tiernan, Rutgers Ally Schlegel, Penn State Kayla Fischer, Ohio State
Midfield Raleigh Loughman, Michigan Sarah Stratigakis, Michigan Avery Lockwood, Indiana
Sam Coffey, Penn State Sophia Boman, Minnesota Hailey Rydberg, Iowa
Emily Mathews, Purdue Becci Fluchel, Rutgers Reagan Raabe, Nebraska
Frankie Tagliaferri, Rutgers Natalie Viggiano, Wisconsin Josie Aulicino, Northwestern
Grace Walsh, Purdue
Defense Alia Martin, Michigan Sara Wheaton, Iowa Anna Aehling, Indiana
Kerry Abello, Penn State Samantha White, Michigan State Aidan McConnell, Wisconsin
Gabby Provenzano, Rutgers Skylurr Patrick, Purdue Macy Monticello, Wisconsin
Goalkeeper Lauren Kozal, Michigan State Marisa Bova, Purdue Meagan McClelland, Rutgers
All-Freshman Team Sportsmanship Award Honorees
Forward Sarah Weber, Nebraska Meredith Johnson-Monfort, Jr., Illinois
Kailyn Dudukovich, Ohio State Sydney Masur, Fr., Indiana
RILEY TIERNAN, Rutgers Riley Whitaker, Sr., Iowa
Alexis Hogarth, Grad., Maryland
Midfield Sydney Masur, Indiana Skylar Anderson, Sr., Michigan
ADDIE BUNDY, Iowa Bella Jodzis, Grad., Michigan State
Avery Kalitta, Michigan Megan Gray, Sr., Minnesota
Kylie Daigle, Rutgers Olivia Brown, Sr., Nebraska
Danika Austin, Jr., Northwestern
Defense Sydney Jones, Ohio State Bailey Kolinski, Sr., Ohio State
Kassidy Banks, Rutgers Kerry Abello, Grad., Penn State
Aidan McConnell, Wisconsin Skylar Giacobetti, Sr., Purdue
Shea Holland, Sr., Rutgers
Goalkeeper Jamie Gerstenberg, Indiana Gabby Green, So., Wisconsi
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