Season Wrap-Up: McLaughlin and Martin Earn IIAC Honors
Nov 10, 2016
DUBUQUE, Iowa- The University of Dubuque’s Women’s Soccer Team had two players earn IIAC All-Conference honors. Kyleigh McLaughlin earned second team all-conference honors for the third straight season, while Alexa Martin was selected to the honorable mention all-conference team.
Kyleigh McLaughlin (East Moline, Ill./United Township), a junior, played in 17 games while starting 15 of those. She was tied for second on the team with eight points during the season with three goals and two assists. The three goals were tied for the third most on the team and one of McLaughlin’s goals was a game winning goal.
Alexa Martin (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Prairie), a freshman defender, played in 15 games and started in 14. Martin helped anchor the Spartan defense which posted four shutouts this season and seven other games where they only allowed one goal.
"When the conference awards came out, we were excited to see that Senior Forward Kyleigh McLaughlin was named to the Second Team All- Conference and that Freshman Defender Alexa Martin was named All-Conference Honorable Mention” commented head coach Jason Berna.
The Spartans Women’s Soccer team finished the season 6-10-1 with a conference record of 2-6. UD’s best stretch of the season came from September 6th to September 25th when they went 6-1-1. Over that stretch the Spartans defeated Cornell College, Marian University, UW-Platteville, Monmouth College and Buena Vista University, with the only loss coming to Carthage College 0-1 in overtime.
“The Spartan’s 2016 season kicked off with very tough non-conference schedule of ranked teams and NCAA tournament teams. Those tough games set the tempo for the rest of the season and were a good indicator of exactly what kind of team the Spartans needed to be” said coach Berna. “With a smaller than normal team this year, the team never gave up and fought hard during every game to strive for a positive result. Every game brought on its own set of challenges for the team, but win or lose, the Spartans always found a way to come together and play as a team.”
The Spartans were led by four seniors, defenders Jamie Spate and Jessica Fierce, forward Kyleigh McLaughlin, midfielder Shelby Nicholson. These seniors combined for 60 starts this season. Nicholson and McLaughlin were the only two seniors to produce points as Nicholson had four goals and McLaughlin added three goals and two assists. Spate and Fierce were very important pieces to the defense with Alexa Martin, to help produce four shutouts.
“We are incredibly proud of our seniors, Jessica Fierce, Jamie Spate, Shelby Nicholson and Kyleigh McLaughlin, for all that they have accomplished during their years as a part of this program. As the team says goodbye to our amazing seniors, we look ahead to the next Spartan soccer season and all of the potential for greatness that comes with it” commented coach Berna.
Goals Assists Saves
Lauren Cangelosi 4 Lauren Cangelosi 5 Megan Moll 67
Shleby Nicholson 4 Kyleigh McLaughlin 2 Paige Dykstra 12
Amanda Chlebek 3 Taryn Spisak 1
Kyleigh McLaughlin 3 Bailey Pipiras 1
Lexus Rose 3
