KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Webster University women's soccer made history on Monday as the Gorloks had three players named to one of the three United Soccer Coaches All-Central Region Teams that were announced by the organization.
The Gorloks named All-Central Region selections were junior defender
Lilly Brauer (Belleville, Ill./Belleville East), junior forward
Melissa Kasper (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) and senior midfielder
Carolyn Ries (St. Louis, Mo./Lindbergh). Brauer and Kasper earned second team honors and Ries was a third team selection.
It marks the first time since the 2016 season that Webster has had a player named to the All-Central Region Team as in 2016,
Elena Bloma and
Brianna Pagan were both tabbed third team selections.
Brauer, Kasper and Ries were three of the four players named All-Region selections from the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference as the other player selected was Fontbonne sophomore forward Molly Kovarik, who was a Third-Team All-Region honoree.
Brauer earns Second Team All-Central Region honors after being named the SLIAC Defensive Player of the Year this season. Brauer was one of the primary anchors in the back of Webster's defense that allowed a total of 35 shots in nine SLIAC matches, including holding two teams without a shot. Brauer, who was a SLIAC Defensive Player of the Week twice during the season and earned Third-Team All-SLIAC honors as a freshman in 2016 and First-Team All-SLIAC honors this season, also scored a goal and took three shots on the season. For the season, Webster's defense allowed just a total of 16 goals and 171 shots and recorded a league-high tying 11 shutouts, including seven shutouts in SLIAC play.
Kasper earns Second-Team All-Central Region Team honors after being named the SLIAC Offensive Player of the Year and a First-Team All-SLIAC performer after leading the league in goals (17), assists (19) and points (52) and was fifth in shots (66). She scored at least one point in all nine league matches as she had 12 goals and 14 assists for a total of 38 points in SLIAC and tallied hat tricks against both MacMurray and Iowa Wesleyan. On the season, she was an SLIAC Offensive Player of the Week honoree on Oct. 1 and is one of 25 active NCAA Division III players that has scored 30 career goals and had 20 career assists. Her 19 assists set a new single season school mark for assists and finished the 2018 campaign third among all Division III players in assists per game (0.95) and second nationally in total assists (19). In addition, she was 10th nationally in total points (53) and 14th nationally in points per game (2.65). After three seasons as a Gorlok, Kasper is fourth in career assists (37), ninth in career goals (34) and tied for eighth in career points (105).
Ries earns Third-Team All-Central Region honors after earning First-Team All-SLIAC honors for the second consecutive season. On the season, Ries, who was a four-time All-SLIAC honoree in her Webster career, scored a total of eight goals, recording three assists and totaling 19 points. Her 45 shots were fifth-most on the team, while her 22 shots on goal were also fifth-most on the squad. She closed out her Webster career tied for 10th in career game started (77) and was tied for 16th in career game winning goals (5). She also played in 79 games and made 77 starts as a Gorlok.
Brauer, Kasper and Ries helped Webster finish the season with a 16-3-1 overall record and a 9-0-0 mark in the SLIAC. The Gorloks earned its seventh straight SLIAC regular season title and its 20th consecutive winning season. In addition, the program also recorded its 300th all-time victory on Oct. 3 at Westminster.
