W-Soccer: American Conference Awards Announced

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

The American announced the conference awards tonight.

http://theamerican.org/news/2013/11/7/WSOC_1107133522.aspx

Congratulations to Taylor Barg, Rikki Clarke, and Shelby Redman!

Barg was named to the conference all-rookie team. Clarke and Redman were both named to the second all-conference team.

[horsemanx]

First of all, congratulations to Taylor Barg. She was awesome this season.

I wouldn't have minded seeing Taylor Jackson on the freshman team as well. I don't think any other teams had freshmen play at a high level at the unforgiving position of center back from day one.

Good for Rikki Clarke and Shelby Redman as well. Both of those players had nice seasons and definitely made their presence known.

But, seriously - no Courtney Smith? She was the best SMU player on the field game in and game out and a lot of the time it wasn't even close.

Granted, the conference teams are a bit skewed by position with only four defenders on the two teams, but Smith was certainly in the top four if not the best defender in conference.

Honestly, this one is kind of baffling.

Anyway, congratulations to Taylor, Rikki, and Shelby!

[Pony4Life]

Congratulations to the three who were honored.
But I'm with Dan here. In the games I saw, Smith was nothing short of dominant. I find it hard to believe there are any defenders who are better than she is, let alone enough to keep her off the all-AAC teams.
Even if she's not the best pure defender, aren't her stats such that she should stand out above others?

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

I'm still worked up about this one. Hopefully, it will be like 2011 when Smith was third team C-USA but second team all-region (yeah, explain that one).

Right or wrong, defenders tend to get recognition when they have good offensive numbers. In 2011 Courtney had three goals and four assists. With the three goals and TEN assists this season you would think she would certainly be noticed by the voters.

Plus, we were regionally ranked by the NSCAA for a good part of the season so people were definitely paying attention.

Hopefully, the regional NSCAA voters will show they are much more intelligent than the American coaches (and C-USA coaches in 2011).

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

College Sports Madness has Courtney Smith on the American first team! Shelby Redman and Taylor Barg are both on the second team!

http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/7655

[disillusioned]

I don't know how it all works, but is it simply a matter of each coach selecting who he (or she) feels is worthy, and having their names submitted? Or does the coach of the individual PLAYER have to submit them as a candidate? If that's the case, then, plain and simple, CP opted not to do so.

ALSO....if that is the case, then he is either unaware of talent AND statistics, or has some sort of personal vendetta, or both.

Just more confusion and disparity in what was a MUCH less than stellar season.

[disillusioned]

Just went to the link...

So one major list puts Smith's ranking as first team, and the conference itself conspicuously has her completely absent. Something DEFINITELY smells fishy there.....

[mustangbill67]

I don't know how it all works, but is it simply a matter of each coach selecting who he (or she) feels is worthy, and having their names submitted? Or does the coach of the individual PLAYER have to submit them as a candidate? If that's the case, then, plain and simple, CP opted not to do so.

ALSO....if that is the case, then he is either unaware of talent AND statistics, or has some sort of personal vendetta, or both.

Just more confusion and disparity in what was a MUCH less than stellar season.

This is the rule for women's soccer season awards:

Selection Process
 Coaches nominate their own players by position and in preferential order.
 Nominees, with uniform number, are forwarded to each coach on a ballot.
 Coaches submit choices (via the Conference’s website) from the nominee list, but cannot select
their own players.
 Conference staff approves final selections.

So although coaches nominate their own players for the various AAC soccer awards, they cannot vote on their own players. There is no way of knowing if a player was nominated or not.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Thanks for digging up that information, mustangbill67.

Chris has been pretty effusive in his praise for Smith in the postgame interviews, and the athletic department seemed to be pretty good about promoting her climb up the all-time SMU records.

I think we can feel reasonably sure she was nominated for the conference awards by SMU.