Women's Soccer All-Ivy, Postseason Awards Announced

Photos courtesy of Harvard Athletic Communications, Princeton Athletic Communications and Yale Sports Publicity

PRINCETON, N.J. -- After a vote by the eight Ivy League women’s soccer coaches, Princeton’s Tyler Lussi was voted Offensive Player of the Year, Yale’s Elise Wilcox was selected Defensive Player of the Year and Harvard’s Dani Stollar was named Rookie of the Year.

A Coach of the Year was voted upon for the first time in League history, with Harvard’s Ray Leone garnering the inaugural award.

Princeton sophomore forward Tyler Lussi (Lutherville, Md.) led the League in goals (18) and points (39), while also tallying three assists. Her 18 goals tied for the second-best single season mark in Princeton history and her 39 points is the third-best single-season mark in Tigers program history. Lussi also led the League in Ivy play with 11 goals and 23 points.

Lussi was also a unanimous first-team All-Ivy, improving upon her honorable mention selection from last season. Lussi is Princeton’s first Player of the Year and first unanimous All-Ivy first team selection since Jen Hoy in 2012.

Yale senior goalkeeper Elise Wilcox (Seattle) was stellar between the pipes all season, giving up just six goals for a 0.50 goals against average, with 64 saves and a .914 save percentage. She recorded a record of 4-2-4, including four shutouts. Wilcox led the League in save percentage and goals against average and finished second in saves.

Wilcox was even better in League action, with an Ivy-best 40 saves, .930 save percentage and a .38 goals against average. She was also selected first-team All-Ivy, her first career All-Ivy honor. She is the first Bulldog to receive Player of the Year honors since Becky Brown in 2009.

Harvard freshman midfielder Dani Stollar (Honolulu) started 12 of the her team’s 16 games, helping the Crimson clinch the Ivy League title for the second-straight season. Stollar scored three goals, including two gamewinners. She netted the game’s only goal in a 1-0 win over San Francisco and then tallied the gamewinner in a 2-0 victory over Cornell. She also helped the Crimson limit opponents to 14 goals in 16 games.

Stollar gives Harvard consecutive Rookie of the Year honors, as Midge Purce was the recipient last season. It marks the first time one team earned Rookie of the Year in back-to-back years since the Crimson accomplished the feat in 2007 (Katherine Sheeleigh) and 2008 (Melanie Baskind).

The inaugural Ivy League women's soccer Coach of the Year honor went to Ray Leone, who guided Harvard to its second-straight Ivy League title. The Crimson became the first team to successfully defend the Ivy title since it shared the 2008 title with Princeton and won the 2009 title outright. Harvard also became the first back-to-back outright champion since it won three-straight from 1995-97.

Harvard, Princeton and Yale each placed three players on the All-Ivy first team.

Crimson sophomore forward Midge Purce (Olney, Md.) was a unanimous selection for the second-straight year after posting 18 points on eight goals and two assists in 2014. She finished second in the League with four gamewinners. Purce is the first Crimson to receive first-team All-Ivy in each of her first two years since Katherine Sheeleigh in 2007-08.

Harvard senior midfielder Meg Casscells-Hamby (Winter Park, Fla.) finished with 10 points on three goals and a team-best four assists en route to her fourth-straight All-Ivy accolade and second first-team honor (2012).

Crimson junior defender Alika Keene (Mount Dora, Fla.) started all 16 games and helped the Crimson post a 0.84 goals against average on the year. She takes home her first career All-Ivy honor.

Princeton senior midfielder Lauren Lazo (Scottsdale, Ariz.) joined Lussi in receiving unanimous first-team All-Ivy honors. Lazo led the League with 10 assists, while also scoring eight goals for 26 points. She is a four-time All-Ivy recipient, taking home her second first-team honor and first since 2012.

Tiger senior defender Gabrielle Ragazzo (Jacksonville, Fla.) also was named to the first team, giving Princeton three players on the first team for the first time since four earned the honor in 2012. Ragazzo started all 15 games in which she played and helped the Tigers post four shutouts on the year.

Yale senior midfielder Meredith Speck (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) and senior defender Muriel Battaglia (Hinsdale, Ill.) joined Wilcox on the first team, giving the Bulldogs three first-team recipients for the first time since 2011.

Speck tallied six points on two goals and two assists, including one gamewinner. Battaglia tallied one assist from her defensive position while helping the Bulldogs limit opponents to 14 goals in 16 games (0.84 GAA), with six shutouts.

Dartmouth placed two juniors on the first team in forward Corey Delaney (Chatham, N.J.) and defender Jackie Friedman (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.).

Delaney finished second on the team with 11 points, on four goals and three assists. She started all 17 games and tallied a pair of gamewinners, against Penn and Harvard. Friedman finished with a goal and two assists from her defensive spot, all while helping the Big Green to hold opponents to just 11 games, a 0.60 GAA and nine shutouts.

Brown, Columbia, Cornell and Penn were all represented on the All-Ivy second team. Bears freshman defender Maclaine Lehan (Shrewsbury, Mass.) played in every minute of every game in her rookie campaign, helping Brown to hold opponents to 19 goals in 17 games. She is the first Bears freshman to earn All-Ivy honors since Lindsay Cunningham was named Honorable Mention in 2005.

Three Lions were named to the second team, as senior forward Coleen Rizzo (Needham, Mass.) was joined by freshmen defenders Natalie Ambrose (Sisters, Ore.) and Kerry Manion (Westlake Village, Calif.). For Rizzo, it marked her first career All-Ivy honor.

Penn junior midfielder Erin Mikolai (Quakertown, Pa.) took home her second-straight All-Ivy honor after earning first-team accolades last season, while senior Quaker midfielder Kaitlyn Moore (San Leandro, Calif.) was named All-Ivy for the first time in her career. Cornell senior midfielder Claire MacManus (Rosemont, Pa.) received her third-consecutive second-team All-Ivy accolade,

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Tyler Lussi, Princeton (So., F – Lutherville, Md.)

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Elise Wilcox, Yale (Sr., GK – Seattle)

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Dani Stollar, Harvard (Fr., M – Honolulu)

COACH OF THE YEAR
Ray Leone, Harvard

FIRST TEAM ALL-IVY
Corey Delaney, Dartmouth (Jr., F – Chatham, N.J.)
*Tyler Lussi, Princeton (So., F – Lutherville, Md.)
*Midge Purce, Harvard (So., F – Olney, Md.)
Meg Casscells-Hamby, Harvard (Sr., M – Winter Park, Fla.)
*Lauren Lazo, Princeton (Sr., M – Scottsdale, Ariz.)
Meredith Speck, Yale (Sr., M – Rockville Centre, N.Y.)
Muriel Battaglia, Yale (Sr., D – Hinsdale, Ill.)
Jackie Friedman, Dartmouth (Jr., D – Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.)
Alika Keene, Harvard (Jr., D – Mount Dora, Fla.)
Gabrielle Ragazzo, Princeton (Sr., D – Jacksonville, Fla.)
Elise Wilcox, Yale (Sr., GK – Seattle)

SECOND TEAM ALL-IVY
Melissa Gavin, Yale (Sr., F – Duxbury, Mass.)
Coleen Rizzo, Columbia (Sr., F – Needham, Mass.)
Claire MacManus, Cornell (Sr., M – Rosemont, Pa.)
Erin Mikolai, Penn (Jr., M – Quakertown, Pa.)
Kaitlyn Moore, Penn (Sr., M – San Leandro, Calif.)
Natalie Ambrose, Columbia (Fr., D – Sisters, Ore.)
Bailey Gary, Harvard (So., D – Davis, Calif.)
Natalie Larkin, Princeton (Fr., D – Washington)
Maclaine Lehan, Brown (Fr., D – Shrewsbury, Mass.)
Kerry Manion, Columbia (Fr., D – Westlake Village, Calif.)
Tatiana Saunders, Dartmouth (Sr., GK – Rye, N.Y.)

HONORABLE MENTION ALL-IVY
Caroline Growney, Cornell (Jr., F – Albuquerque, N.M.)
Lucielle Kozlov, Dartmouth (Jr., F – Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
Charlotte Beach, Brown (Jr., M – New Haven, Conn.)
Ellie Crowell, Cornell (So., M – Hamburg, N.Y.)
Victoria Goode, Columbia (Sr., M – Wildwood, Mo.)
Carly Gould, Brown (So., M – Hampton Falls, N.H.)
Vanessa Gregoire, Princeton (Fr., M – Beaconsfield, Quebec, Canada)
Dani Stollar, Harvard (Fr., M – Honolulu)
Haley Washburn, Harvard (Jr., M – Folsom, Calif.)
Erika Garcia, Harvard (Sr., D – Carson City, Nev.)
Anastasia Gillen, Brown (Sr., D – San Clemente, Calif.)
Carlin Hudson, Yale (Fr., D – Berkeley, Calif.)
Charlotte Tate, Cornell (Jr., D – Westlake, Ohio)
Laura Thurber, Dartmouth (Sr., D – Belmont, Mass.)
Kalijah Terrili, Penn (Jr., GK – Bronx, N.Y.)

* Unanimous Selection