Seven HPU women’s soccer players receive Big South honors
By Collin Giuliani
The High Point women’s soccer team finished the regular season with a 7-1-1 record in conference play, receiving the number one seed in the Big South Tournament for the second straight season. This is the fourth time in school history that the Panthers won at least a share of the regular season title, and the first time in school history that the Panthers did this in back-to-back seasons.
Because of their success, three HPU players received Big South First Team All-Conference honors, two HPU players received Second Team All-Conference honors, senior midfielder Lindsay Elsen received an honorable mention for all-conference, and freshman defender Mackenzie Mullins made it onto the Big South All-Freshman Team. In total, seven HPU players received honors by the Big South, which is tied with the 2011 team for the most honors received in a single season.
Senior midfielder Becca Rolfe made it onto the Big South First Team for the third straight season. After making the Big South Second Team in 2014 and the First Team in each of the past three seasons, she joins Jen Evans as the only player in school history to ever make an All-Conference team four times. Additionally, Rolfe becomes the first HPU player to ever do this without taking a redshirt year, as Jen Evans spent five seasons with the Panthers from 2002-07. Over her career, Rolfe has played 80 games for HPU, and has played over 5,000 minutes.
Senior defender Paige Lloyd made it onto the Big South First Team for the second straight season. Lloyd was the only player to start every game for the Panthers this season, starting 19 out of a possible 19 games, and has started the last 41 games for HPU dating back to the middle of the 2015 season. Lloyd never left the field, as in nine regular season conference games, she played in all but 11 minutes, playing 842 out of a possible 853 minutes. By receiving First Team All-Conference honors in 2016 and 2017, Lloyd becomes the second HPU defender to ever receive First Team All-Conference honors in consecutive seasons, joining Janay Whitakker, who received this honor in 2010 and 2011.
Senior goalkeeper Alex Hank made it onto the Big South First Team for the second time in her career, and made it onto an all-conference team for the third straight season. Hank becomes the first HPU goalkeeper to ever make it onto three all-conference teams, as she received First Team honors in 2015 and 2017, and Second Team honors in 2016, and becomes the first HPU goalkeeper to ever make it onto the Big South First Team twice. In nine regular season conference games, Hank allowed just four goals, and recorded a save percentage of over 91 percent. Earlier this season, Hank became the first player in school history to win Big South Preseason Defensive Player of the Year honors. Hank will leave HPU as the all-time leader in wins, shutouts, and goals-against average.
Senior forward Michele Micciche received Big South Second Team honors, making it onto an all-conference team for the first time in her career. Micciche, who started all but one game this season, finished the regular season ranked 10th in the conference in shots per game, as she averaged two shots per game. Additionally, sophomore defender Allie Reagan received Big South Second Team honors. Last year, Reagan was one of three HPU players, alongside Alex Denny and Kyle Levesque, to make it onto the Big South All-Freshman Team, and she was the only freshman to play in every game for the Panthers. This year, Reagan started 13 regular season games, including the final eight games of the regular season, and averaged over 76 minutes per game in her seven conference appearances.
Defender Mackenzie Mullins made it onto the Big South All-Freshman Team, becoming the fourth HPU defender in the last three years to make this team, alongside Callyn Loughrey in 2015, and Allie Reagan and Kyle Levesque in 2016. As a freshman, Mullins started 11 regular season games, which was the most starts for a HPU freshman since 2014, when Becca Rolfe started 17 games. Mullins, who was the only freshman to play every game for the Panthers this season, started all but one game in conference play, and averaged over 73 minutes per game in conference play.
Lindsay Elsen was one of five players in the conference to receive an honorable mention for all-conference. Elsen has played in 81 out of a possible 82 games over her career, and started all but one game in conference play for the Panthers this season.
The seven honors received were tied for the second most of any Big South school this season, alongside co-regular season champions Liberty. Longwood University led the way with eight Big South honors, including the Defensive Player of the Year honor with junior defender Sydney Wallace, and the Freshman of the Year honor with defender Carrie Reaver. The Big South Attacking Player of the Year was Campbell forward Alexa Genas, who scored 15 goals for the Camels, which was not only the best total in the conference, but was tied for the third best total across the entire NCAA.