Racers Take Home All-OVC Honors

It was a night to remember for the Murray State women's soccer team as the Ohio Valley Conference gave out its regular season awards.

The big winners were head coach Jeremy Groves as he took home the Coach of the Year award and Harriet Withers who won Offensive Player of the Year. Taylor Stevens, Taylor Richerson, and Withers were all named All-OVC First Team. Freshman Alex Steigerwald was named to the All-OVC Second Team as well the OVC Newcomer Team.

Groves is the second coach in program history to win the award. In just his second year with the program, he led his team to the best record in program history (14-4) and MSU's second regular season OVC title. MSU also had the longest win streak in program history at nine, and the first 10-0 OVC record in the history of the conference.

It's been no sophomore slump for Withers as she takes home Murray State soccer's first Offensive Player of the Year award. The sophomore from Murwillumbah, Australia leads the team in goals with nine. Of those nine goals, four have the game winners. Even when she's not scoring, Withers helps out on offense as she is second on the team in assists with six.

Stevens has been an integral part of this Racer team. Winning Defensive Player of the Week four weeks straight, she has shown that she is a leader for this Racer team. Stevens leads the team in assists with seven and is second on the team in goals with six. The senior captain has also led a defense in shutting out opponents as the Racers have recorded shutouts in five of their ten OVC matches.

Richerson has shown she's a force on the MSU offense. She's second on the team in goals with seven and second with six assists. Richerson won OVC Offensive Player of the week twice during the regular season.

Steigerwald has been a great asset in goal for the Racers. She's recorded five shutouts for MSU which earned her OVC Goalkeeper of the Week three times this season. Steigerwald has 52 saves on the year with a goals allowed average of 0.64.

The Racers hope to keep the season alive as they take on Morehead State at Cutchin field on Friday in the semifinals of the OVC Championship. Match time set for 2 p.m. Live streaming video will be available courtesy of the OVC Digital Network.

2015 ALL-OHIO VALLEY CONFERENCE WOMEN'S SOCCER TEAMS
(As selected by OVC women's soccer coaches and sports information directors)

FIRST TEAM
Kari Naerdemann, Tennessee Tech
Abby Timm, Morehead State
Harriet Withers, Murray State
Taylor Richerson, Murray State
Taylor Stevens, Murray State
Abi Gearing, Tennessee Tech
Maggie Burkett, UT Martin
McKenzie Dixon, Austin Peay
Rebecca Starnes, UT Martin
Olivia Drapes, Jacksonville State
Amani Thomas, Eastern Kentucky

2015 OVC OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Harriet Withers, Murray State
2015 OVC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Kari Naerdemann, Tennessee Tech
2015 OVC FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Abby Timm, Morehead State
2015 OVC COACH OF THE YEAR: Jeremy Groves, Murray State

SECOND TEAM
Stephanie Bukovec, Belmont
Alex Steigerwald, Murray State
Giana Fabbro, Austin Peay
Saphyra Coombs-James, UT Martin
Dani Wilson, Morehead State
Angie Mann, Southeast Missouri
Belicia Mendiola, Belmont
Claire Petersen, Jacksonville State
Tieg Palmater, Morehead State
Karigan Owens, Tennessee Tech
Kassiy Rawdon, SIUE
Lauren Kaempfe, Southeast Missouri

(12 players appear on the second team due to a tie)

ALL-NEWCOMER
Abby Timm, Morehead State
Alex Steigerwald, Murray State
Kari Naerdemann, Tennessee Tech
Rebecca Starnes, UT Martin
McKenzie Dixon, Austin Peay
Lisa Schmieder, UT Martin
Dani Wilson, Morehead State
Maggie Burkett, UT Martin
Claire Petersen, Jacksonville State
Angie Mann, Southeast Missouri
Lauren Kaempfe, Southeast Missouri
Stephanie Bukovec, Belmont

(12 players appear on the All-Newcomer team due to a tie)

Murray State University Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Taylor Richerson

Alex Steigerwald

Taylor Stevens

Harriet Withers

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