Teegarden Named All-American By NSCAA
MILWAUKEE, Wis. (Dec. 6, 2008) - Senior Sarah Teegarden of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's soccer team was named to the NSCAA/adidas All-America Third Team, the NSCAA announced during it first wave of post-season awards. Teegarden was also named to the All-Region First Team, and was joined by sophomore Nicole Sperl and freshman Sarah Hagen. Senior Erin Kane was named to the all-region second team. Lastly, the Panthers earned the NSCAA's Team Academic Award for the 11th-straight season. As a team, UWM's cumulative grade point average was 3.39. The NSCAA Team Academic Award is awarded to those teams with a GPA of 3.00 or better. Teegarden is Milwaukee's first two-time All-American, being named Soccer Buzz Freshman All-America Honorable Mention in 2005. Meanwhile, Ginny Graczyk was the Panthers' last All-American, earning a third-team nod from Soccer Buzz in 2006. This season, the Batavia, Ill., native started all 23 games and was a dominant force in the UWM midfield. She finished with four goals and five assists and was then named to the Horizon League First Team for the fourth time in her career, one of just eight players in league history to accomplish the feat. Sperl missed out on all-league award, but was a key member of the Milwaukee defense. She made the transition from midfield/forward after her freshman season and played in 22 games, starting 21 as an outside defender for the Panthers this season. Despite the position change, she tied for fourth on the team with 16 points on three goals and 10 assists.
Hagen is expected to earn a number of honors after a freshman campaign in which she set school and league records with 24 goals and a school record with 54 points. She was previously named to the TopDrawerSoccer.com Freshman All-Rookie Team, was the Horizon League's Newcomer of the Year and was a member of the all-league first team. As of Nov. 30, she led the nation in total goals and was tied for second in points. She is also third in the nation in goals per game (1.043) and sixth in points per game (2.35). Kane capped her career as the most accomplished goalkeeper in school or league history this season. She started all 23 games, won a school-record 17 games, boasted a 0.85 goals against average and posted nine shutouts for the Panthers. For her career, she set school and league records with 45 shutouts, a 0.67 GAA and almost 7,800 minutes played. She also broke the school record for wins with 55. After the season, she teamed with Teegarden as the only teammates in league history to earn all-league first-team honors in each of their four seasons. Milwaukee had arguably its most accomplished season ever in 2008, going 18-3-2 and ascending the national rankings to a program-best No. 16 ranking by the NSCAA. The Panthers won a ninth-straight Horizon League regular season championship, a fifth league tournament title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time in school history. The team's 18 wins and .864 winning percentage are both school records, as were the teams 65 goals, 70 assists and 200 points. |
