Six Bruins Women’s Soccer Players Earn Pac-12 Postseason Awards
A total of six Bruins received Pac-12 women’s soccer postseason awards.
College Soccer News: The honorees are led by first-team All-Pac-12 Jessie Fleming, Hailie Mace and Ashley Sanchez. Also receiving All-Pac-12 honors were Kaiya McCullough (second team) and MacKenzie Cerda (third team). Sanchez and Delanie Sheehan were selected to the All-Freshman team.
Fleming, a sophomore midfielder for the UCLA Bruins from London, Ontario, earns first-team acclaim for the second consecutive year. Fleming, UCLA’s playmaker, has scored four goals, three game-winning goals and seven assists in 2017.
She is on the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List and was selected the mid-season No. 1 ranked player by Top Drawer Soccer.
As a freshman, Fleming earned NSCAA third-team All-America honors and Top Drawer Soccer National Freshman of the Year acclaim after leading UCLA in scoring with 11 goals and 27 points.
Mace, a junior forward from Ventura, Calif., converted from defender to forward in 2017 and has responded with a team-leading and career-high 13 goals, four game-winning goals and 29 points.
Mace, one of just two Bruins to start in all 19 games this season, recorded a first-half hat trick on Aug. 24 against Santa Clara and is a three-time Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week. She was also selected as the No. 8 player in the Top Drawer Soccer midseason Top 100. In 2016, as a defender, she earned second-team All-Pac-12 honors.
Sanchez, a freshman forward from Monrovia, Calif., leads UCLA with eight assists and has also scored six goals, ranking second on the team in scoring with 20 points.
Sanchez has scored three game-winning goals this season, none bigger than the overtime winner to defeat USC, 3-2, last week.
In UCLA’s last four games, Sanchez has recorded three goals and one assist. The U.S. Under-23 National Team member is ranked No. 2 on Top Drawer Soccer’s Midseason Top 100 freshmen list.
McCullough, a sophomore defender from Mission Viejo, Calif., has played and started in all 19 games and contributed to seven shutouts.
She also scored her first career goal in the overtime win over USC last week and has totaled two assists from the center back position. McCullough, who earned Pac-12 All-Freshmen honors last year, is listed at No. 61 in the Top Drawer Soccer midseason Top 100 list.
Cerda, a senior defender from Huntington Beach, Calif. has received her first career All-Pac-12 honor. She has played in 18 games this season, starting 16, and has contributed to seven shutouts while recording career-high totals with three goals and seven points. Cerda scored the game-winning goal at No. 8 Virginia on Sept. 7.
Sheehan, a midfielder from Brentwood, Calif., joins Sanchez on the All-Freshman team after playing in all 19 games and making 10 starts. Sheehan ranks fifth on the team in scoring with 10 points, totaling four goals and two assists.
She has recorded game-winning goals at Long Beach State Aug. 20 and against UC Santa Barbara on Aug. 27.
Source and Photo Credit: UCLA Bruins
