Rutgers women’s soccer dominates Big Ten honors

It isn’t a surprise that Rutgers women’s soccer has nearly a clean sweep of the end-of-season awards for the Big Ten this year. Especially given the year the program just had.

The Scarlet Knights finished the regular season 15-2 and 10-0 in the Big Ten, the first time since Penn State in 2005 that a women’s soccer team didn’t drop a point in conference play.

As such, Mike O’Neill was named the conference’s coach of the year as Rutgers captured their first-ever Big Ten title. In fact, it was the first conference title for Rutgers since joining the Big Ten in 2014.

Six players were named All-Big Ten led by first-team selections senior forward Amirah Ali (First Team), freshman midfielder Riley Tiernan (First Team), senior forward Frankie Tagliaferri (First Team) and defender Gabby Provenzano (First Team). Sophomore defender Becci Fluchel (Second Team) and goalkeeper Meagan McClelland (Third Team) round out the team selections for Rutgers.

Senior Shea Holland was given the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.

Tagliaferri, a transfer from Penn State, was named the Big Ten Midfielder of the Year while Provenzano, the team’s captain, was the Big Ten Defender of the Year.

The Big Ten Freshman of the Year was fittingly given to Tiernan, who was a revelation on the wing with four goals and 10 assists. In addition to the individual honor, Tiernan along with midfielder Kylie Daigle and defender Kassidy Banks were selected to the All-Freshman Team.