Drake’s Emma Nagel headlines a list of 35 student-athletes named to the 2023 MVC All-Conference women’s soccer teams as selected by league coaches. Nagel, who was tabbed the 2023 MVC Player of the Year, finished her senior campaign second in the league in total points (20), was tied for second in the MVC with eight goals, and added four assists. She is the fourth Bulldog to be named MVC Player of the Year.
Top-seeded Drake joins three other league teams in the MVC Women’s Soccer Tournament semifinals, which begins tomorrow (Thursday, Nov. 2) with the second-seeded Missouri State Bears taking on sixth-seeded Valparaiso at 3 p.m. CT (ESPN+). The second semifinal features host and No. 1 seed Drake against No. 4 seed UIC at 6 p.m. CT (ESPN+).
Eleven MVC programs sponsor women’s soccer and all 11 had at least one student-athlete honored among the league’s three all-MVC teams or on the MVC All-Freshman unit. The top two seeds (Drake and Missouri State) claimed the lion’s share of the selections, as the two schools combined for 17 total players honored -- Drake (8), Missouri State (9). Those two squads combined to earn all five of the league’s specialty award honors (Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Goalkeeper of the Year, Freshman of the Year, and Coaching Staff of the Year).
The league’s Defensive Player of the Year hails from Missouri State, as Carly Raunig was tabbed the league’s top defender this fall for a second-straight year. She helped anchor a Missouri State defense that pitched shutouts in nine of its 10 Conference matches, and the Bears’ defense allowed only seven goals all season. Raunig started every match this season for MoState and finished the regular season with four goals and an assist. She was the league’s Defensive Player of the Week in early September, and Raunig becomes the second Missouri State player to earn Defensive Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons (Sarah Guenther, 2003, 2004).
The 2023 MVC Freshman of the Year is Angela Gutierrez of Drake. Gutierrez is the third player in Drake history to be named the MVC Freshman of the Year and the first since 2017 to claim the honor. She joins Andrea Schmitz (2002) and Hannah Bormann (2017) as Drake student-athletes to earn the league’s top freshman player award. This season, she tied a program record for assists by a freshman with five. Her 15 points are tied for 7th-best in the MVC. Gutierrez earned five “Freshman of the Week” awards throughout the 2023 campaign.
Missouri State’s Camielle Day was named the league’s Goalkeeper of the Year honor after putting together another stellar season between the posts. She shattered Missouri State’s record books with 10 solo shutouts this season. The five-time MVC Goalkeeper of the Week award winner allowed only one goal during Conference play in 2023. She enters tournament play ranked fifth in the NCAA and first in the MVC with a 0.43 goals against average. That figure would rank second-best all-time for a single-season in MVC women’s soccer history.
Drake’s coaching staff has earned the MVC’s Coaching Staff of the Year honor. Head coach Lindsey Horner is in her 16th season on the Bulldog bench. She helped lead Drake to its seventh Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title with a record of 8-1-1 in Conference play and an overall record of 12-3-3. The Bulldogs enter the tournament unbeaten in their last seven matches (6-0-1). Horner is assisted by Kevin Brennan and Sonia Allison-Rodriguez. The regular-season title is Drake’s first since 2017. The Bulldogs’ eight league wins are the most Conference wins in program history.
And UNI earned the Valley’s Fair Play Award, which is structured after the FIFA Fair Play honor. It is awarded to the Valley squad(s) that have the fewest penalty cards during MVC matches.