CCAC News
Posted by Dave Laketa - Sat, Nov 14, 2009 - [ Women's Soccer ] - Viewed 463 times
Robert Morris' Gifty Appiah claimed CCAC MVP honors for 2009 on Saturday.
Robert Morris' Gifty Appiah claimed CCAC MVP honors for 2009 on Saturday.

2009 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference women's soccer regular-season champion Trinity Christian College and runner-up Olivet Nazarene University combined to earn nearly half of the 28 spots on either the all-conference first team or honorable mention designation when the awards were announced late Saturday afternoon.

Trinity Christian gained five spots on the 14-member first team and six overall, while Olivet Nazarene had a league-high seven on the squad, including four on the first team. Both teams' head coaches - Josh Lenarz of Trinity Christian and Bill Bahr from Olivet Nazarene - were also recognized, sharing the conference's coach of the year award.  Lenarz also earned the honor in 2008.

Robert Morris University's Gifty Appiah (Takoradi, Ghana) claimed the league's top individual prize, voted upon as the most valuable player after leading the conference in no fewer than five categories. That included authoring the most points (43) and goals (18), as well as the most game-winning goals (5) during the regular season. Appiah, a junior forward/midfielder, averaged better than one goal per game (1.06, 18 goals in 17 games) and, with her seven assists on the season, posted a 2.53 points per game average (43 points in 17 games).

Appiah was one of four Eagle players selected all-conference with the breakdown split evenly between the first team and honorable mention status.

Judson University had the same split with midfielder Kamila Marchi (Porto Alegre, Brazil) bringing home CCAC Freshman of the Year accolades. Marchi tied for second in the league in total assists (8) during the regular season, while placing third in assists per game (0.44 average). She also tallied five goals during the regular season giving her 18 total points, or 1.00 points per game.

The rest of the all-conference squad was made up of three representatives from Trinity International University and two each from Illinois Institute of Technology and Saint Xavier University.

First-year CCAC member Holy Cross College was named as the Karl Boeck Sportsmanship Award recipient.

For a complete listing of all the awards, go to: http://www.ccacsports.com/awards/7/3.php