Throughout the 2018-19 academic year, the Great Lakes Valley Conference will celebrate its 40th anniversary by recognizing 40 teams that made a significant impact both on campus and at the Conference level. This week’s featured team is the 2016 McKendree University women’s soccer squad.
40 TEAMS | 40 YEARS
WEEK 9: 2016 McKendree Women’s Soccer
SEASON SUMMARY
The 2016 McKendree women’s soccer team finished the season 17-5-1 overall, including the school’s first-ever GLVC Championship in any sport, following an 11-4 mark in Conference play. The Bearcats dropped their first GLVC contest of the year against Truman State, and then three others by mid-October to own a 7-4 record in league play. Under the direction of head coach Tim Strange, McKendree then won the remaining four Conference games and went unbeaten in the GLVC Championship Tournament, which included a 1-0 shutout at home over Bellarmine, a 4-1 penalty-kick advancement after a scoreless draw against Truman State in the semifinals, and a thrilling 2-1 victory over Rockhurst in the title game. The Bearcats then went on to score a 3-1 win over Davis & Elkins College in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, but fell to 1-0 to Truman in the second round.
IMPRESSIVE INDIVIDUALS
Sydnee Carroll
- NSCAA All-America Second Team
- D2CCA All-America Honorable Mention
- NSCAA All-Midwest Region First Team
- D2CCA All-Midwest Region First Team
- GLVC Offensive Player of the Year
- All-GLVC First Team
- Led NCAA Division II with 10 game-winning goals, was 10th in goals scored (18), and 14th in points (41)
- Later named USC All-Midwest Region First Team in 2017
- Later named D2CAA All-Midwest Region Second Team in 2017
Liz Kaiser
- NSCAA All-Midwest Region Third Team
- Later named USC All-Midwest Region First Team in 2017
Alyssa Reiniger
Sydnie Markowski
Chelsea Whittaker
Zoe Brochu
- Led the GLVC and ranked seventh in NCAA Division II in goalie minutes played (2030:34)
- Later named D2CAA All-Midwest Region Second Team in 2017
LASTING LEGACY
The 2016 women’s soccer team set the stage for success at McKendree University as the Bearcats captured the school’s first-ever GLVC Championship in any sport. Since that milestone win, the Bearcats repeated as league champions in 2017 and won Conference crowns in men’s outdoor track and field and wrestling. While the Bearcats scored that league crown in their third appearance in the GLVC Championship Tournament in 2016, the win qualified them for their first-ever NCAA Division II Tournament bid, which then resulted in the program’s first NCAA Tournament victory. McKendree returned to the national tournament in 2017 after winning its second consecutive league crown. Individually, Sydnee Carroll was the NCAA Division II pioneer for the program as she was the first women’s soccer standout to earn All-America honors, a major GLVC postseason award, as well as first-team All-Conference distinction. The back-to-back GLVC titles by the Bearcats garnered the respect of the league coaches as McKendree was picked first in the 2018 GLVC Preseason Poll earlier this year. McKendree closed out the regular season with a 13-3-1 overall record and a 9-3-1 mark in conference play, which earned the Bearcats a share of their first regular-season title. They enter the postseason as the No. 2 seed in the GLVC Championship Tournament and are looking to become just the second team in league history to win three GLVC Championships (Northern Kentucky, 1998-99-00-01-02).