LOCK HAVEN, Pa. (Nov. 12) – The California University of Pennsylvania women’s soccer team featured a school-record five players on the All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) West Teams and two members of the program received individual PSAC West awards on Thursday.
Senior forward
Amanda Heister (Palmyra, Pa./Northern Lebanon) was named the PSAC West Athlete of the Year and third-year head coach
Al Alvine was selected the PSAC West Coach of the Year.
Heister is the first player in program history to earn the PSAC West Athlete of the Year honor. She set new career highs and led the league with both 17 goals and 38 points this season. The 5-6 senior earned All-PSAC West honors for the fourth time in her career, but received first-team status for the first time.
Alvine guided the Vulcans to a school record 16 wins this year, including the program’s first-ever PSAC West title. Cal U also made its first appearance in the PSAC Tournament and earned an at-large bid to its first NCAA Tournament. Over the last two years, Alvine has posted a combined 28 victories for the highest back-to-back win total in school history.
Junior
Sam Regney (Monaca, Pa./Monaca/Pittsburgh) made the All-PSAC West First Team after ranking among the league leaders in goals, assists and points. In her second year with the program, she has tallied a career-best 22 points on eight goals and six assists.
Cal U featured three players on the All-PSAC West Second Team in sophomores
Paula Jackson (Kingston, Jamaica/Wolmer's Trust/Newberry (S.C.)) and
Kayla Klimasko (Mississauga, Ontario/Woodlands Secondary) and freshman
Carley Work (Hopewell, Pa./Hopewell).
Jackson ranks fourth in the league with a 0.76 goals-against average (GAA) and third in the PSAC with 10 shutouts. A transfer from Newberry (S.C.), she has posted 68 saves en route to a 15-5-1 record in 21 games (all starts).
Klimasko earned All-PSAC West laurels for the second time in her career. One of only two players to start all 22 games this year, she helps anchor a defense that allows only 0.71 goals per game and has posted a combined 12 shutouts.
Work ranks third on the team with 17 points and six goals after playing 20 games (14 starts). One of only two freshmen to receive All-PSAC West honors, she has also collected five assists and two game-winning goals this year.
The Vulcans continue post-season play tomorrow, Friday, Nov. 13, when they face West Virginia Wesleyan, the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) champion, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.