2019 AUS Women's Soccer Major Award Winners and All-Stars Announced
Cape Breton’s Ciera Disipio named AUS MVP for third consecutive season
(HALIFAX, N.S.) Atlantic University Sport is pleased to announce the 2019 women's soccer all-stars and major award winners as selected by the conference's 10 head coaches following regular season play.
Fifth-year Cape Breton Capers midfielder Ciera Disipio has been named the AUS most valuable player for the third straight season.
The AUS rookie of the year is Alliyah Rowe (Kitchener, Ont.) from the Cape Breton Capers.
Sydney Kenney, a fourth-year defender from Halifax, N.S., is this year's recipient of the AUS student-athlete community service award.
And in his seventh season at the helm of the StFX X-Women program, Graham Kennedy has been selected by his peers as the AUS women's soccer coach of the year for the first time in his career.
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Ciera Disipio, Cape Breton University
Ciera Disipio, a fifth-year midfielder with the U SPORTS no. 4-ranked Cape Breton Capers, has been named the 2019 AUS women's soccer most valuable player. This is her third consecutive season winning the conference's top honour.
A community studies student from Ottawa, Ont., Disipio led the defending AUS champion Capers to a 9-2-1 record, a second-place finish in the conference standings and a first-round playoffs bye through to this weekend's championship semifinal round.
She led the league and tied for second in the nation in assists this season with eight, and added three goals for 11 points, despite missing the last three games of the season due to injury.
She was also named an AUS first team all-star for the third consecutive season today.
In her fifth year of eligibility, Disipio has accumulated 33 career regular season goals, and 59 points.
She was named a U SPORTS first team all-Canadian the past two seasons. She also earned the AUS rookie of the year honour in her freshman season in 2015.
Disipio is the first women's soccer player in AUS history to earn MVP honours three times in her career.
She is the fifth player from a Capers squad to be named the conference's most valuable player.
Previous Cape Breton winners have included Karolyne Blain (2013 and 2014), Kristina Weatherbie (2007), Natalie Cullen (2003), and Sarah Drake (2002).
Only two Atlantic conference athletes have taken home the Chantal Navert Memorial Award as U SPORTS (formerly CIS) player of the year. UPEI's Amy Connolly took home the honour in 2005 and Cape Breton's Sarah Drake was the 2002 recipient.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Alliyah Rowe, Cape Breton Capers
Cape Breton Capers striker Alliyah Rowe has been chosen by the coaches as the 2019 Atlantic University Sport rookie of the year.
An arts student from Kitchener, Ont., Rowe had a dominant first season with the Capers this season.
She led the league and tied for second nationally in goals with 14 on the season. Her 15 total points tied her for first in the conference.
She started in all 12 regular season games for the Capers this season and was named Subway Player of the Game on three occasions—Sept. 14 versus Dalhousie, Oct. 5 versus Mount Allison and Oct. 26 versus Moncton.
Rowe also tied for first in the conference in game-winning goals this season with five.
She becomes the 10th player from a Cape Breton team to take home the AUS rookie of the year honours, and the second consecutive Caper to earn the honour. Teammate Erin Freeman was named the conference's top rookie last season.
Rowe will now represent the Atlantic conference as the AUS nominee for the U SPORTS rookie of the year award.
Freeman earned this honour last season.
The only other AUS players to be honoured as the national rookie of the year are Cape Breton's Michelle Desjardins in 2000 and Dalhousie's Mary-Beth Bowie in 1997.
STUDENT-ATHLETE COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD: Sydney Kenney, Dalhousie Tigers
Fourth-year Dalhousie Tigers defender Sydney Kenney is the 2019 recipient of the AUS women's soccer student-athlete community service award.
This is the eighth time a member of a Dalhousie team has earned the honour since the award's inception in 2006.
A neuroscience student from Halifax, N.S., Kenney has had success on the soccer field and in the classroom, while also volunteering her time in the community.
She played in all 12 games for the Tigers this season, starting in 11 of them. Kenney helped the Tigers to a 6-3-3 record with just eight goals allowed all season.
In the classroom, she is a three-time academic all-Canadian, boasting a 3.94 GPA and hopes to pursue a career in medicine in the future.
She is heavily involved in the community both on and off campus. Off campus, she volunteers her time with the Veterans Memorial Hospital, Victoria General Hospital and the IWK's Children's Heart Centre.
On campus she has leant her time to initiatives such as SAMHI (Student-Athlete Mental Health Initiative) and the Special Tigers program (volunteering with young people with intellectual disabilities).
Kenney has also done volunteer work for Special Olympics, Ronald McDonald House, and other causes.
She is now the AUS nominee for the national student-athlete community service award.
An Atlantic conference student-athlete has received the national honour six times, with Memorial's Jessie Noseworthy earning the honour most recently in 2015. Other Atlantic conference winners include Caoimhe MacParland (2014), Alana Fairfax (2012), Cathleen Bleakney (2011), Samantha Hanford (2010), and Ally Read (2006).
COACH OF THE YEAR: Graham Kennedy, StFX X-Women
Graham Kennedy, head coach of the undefeated StFX X-Women, has been chosen by his peers as the 2019 AUS coach of the year.
Currently in his seventh season at the helm of the X-Women program, this is his first time earning the honour. He earned men's soccer coach of the year honours in 2010.
This marks the first time a StFX coach has been named women's soccer coach of the year since 2005 when former X-Women coach Trevor Reddick earned the honour.
This season, Kennedy led the X-Women to a 7-0-5 record and a third-place finish in the conference standings.
His StFX squad led the league in shutouts with eight and allowed just eight goals against all season.
His career coaching record with the X-Women sits at 44-26-28 (regular season and post season) heading into this weekend's championship.
Kennedy now becomes the AUS nominee for the U SPORTS coach of the year award. Cape Breton's Ness Timmons is most recent coach from the Atlantic conference to win the honour. He was named U SPORTS coach of the year in 2017.
FIRST AND SECOND TEAM ALL-STARS
The 2019 AUS women's soccer first and second team all-stars are as follows:
First Team All-Stars:
Keeper – Sydney Walsh, Memorial (3rd year – St. John's, N.L.)
Defender – Larissa White, StFX (5th year – Westphal, N.S.)
Defender – Lauren Jodrey, Acadia (2nd year – Bedford, N.S.)
Defender – Rachelle Lalande, Dalhousie (5th year – Halifax, N.S.)
Midfielder – Ciera Disipio, Cape Breton (5th year – Ottawa, Ont.)
Midfielder – Mercy Myles, StFX (4th year – Accra, Ghana)
Midfielder – Madicynn Harnish, Acadia (3rd year – Lower Sackville, N.S.)
Midfielder – Maya Venkataraman, Dalhousie (4th year – Summerland, B.C.)
Striker – Alliyah Rowe, Cape Breton (1st year – Kitchener, Ont.)
Striker – Amanda Smith, StFX (2nd year – Ottawa, Ont.)
Striker – Jenna Boudreau, Acadia (5th year – Halifax, N.S.)
Second Team All-Stars:
Keeper – Sarah Charnock, Acadia (5th year – Newmarket, Ont.)
Defender – Fatou Ndiaye, Cape Breton (3rd year – Pierrefonds, Que.)
Defender – Madison Lavers, Cape Breton (3rd year – Halifax, N.S.)
Defender – Mya Harnish, Acadia (1st year – Halifax, N.S.)
Defender – Olivia MacIntyre, Dalhousie (3rd year – Sydney, N.S.)
Midfielder – Sylvie Fecteau, UNB (4th year – Moncton, N.B.)
Midfielder – Nicole Torraville, Memorial (4th year – St. John's, N.L.)
Midfielder – Fiorella Morales, Saint Mary's (5th year – Bedford, N.S.)
Striker – Rachel Leck, Cape Breton (3rd year – Pickering, Ont.)
Striker – Danika Lefebvre, UNB (4th year – Hanwell, N.B.)
Striker – Catherine Dupuis, Moncton (3rd year - St-Mathias, Que.)
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The 2019 Subway AUS Soccer Championships presented by Keep It Social will be hosted by Cape Breton University in Sydney, N.S. Oct. 31 to Nov. 3.
The championship schedule is as follows:
Thursday, Oct. 31
Women's Quarterfinal #1: UNB (5) vs. Dalhousie (4), 11:30 a.m.
Men's Quarterfinal #1: Saint Mary's (5) vs. Dalhousie (4), 2 p.m.
Women's Quarterfinal #2: Memorial (6) vs. StFX (3), 4:30 p.m.
Men's Quarterfinal #2: UPEI (6) vs. UNB (3), 7 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 1
Women's Semifinal #1: Winner QF 1 vs. Acadia (1), 11:30 a.m.
Men's Semifinal #1: Winner QF 1 vs. Cape Breton (1), 2 p.m.
Women's Semifinal #2: Winner QF 2 vs. Cape Breton (2), 4:30 p.m.
Men's Semifinal #2: Winner QF 2 vs. StFX (2), 7 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 3
Women's Championship Final: Winner SF 1 vs. Winner SF 2, 1 p.m.
Men's Championship Final: Winner SF 1 vs. Winner SF 2, 4 p.m.
*Note: All games of the championship will be televised live on Bell Aliant's Fibe TV1 and available via webcast at www.AUStv.ca.
Final AUS women's soccer standings:
http://atlanticuniversitysport.com/sports/wsoc/2019-20/standings
The Atlantic University Sport conference receives two berths at the 2019 U SPORTS women's soccer championship being hosted by the University of Victoria in Victoria, B.C. Nov. 7 to 10. The berths will be awarded to the AUS championship winner and runner up.
For more information on the national women's soccer championship, please visit the official website at: https://usports.ca/en/championships/soccer/f.