Moore, Attenborough, McComasky all-SAC; Posey reflects on turn-around season

In the wake of a turn-around season that saw them more than double the previous year's win total, Wayland Baptist women's soccer landed three players on the All-Sooner Athletic Conference team. Junior forward Taylor Moore was named to the first team while junior midfielder Megan Attenborough and freshman defender Madison McComasky were recognized on the second team.
 
Moore, a first-year transfer from Cisco Junior College, led Wayland with 11 goals and ranked third in the SAC with 0.69 goals per match. The San Angelo native fired 70 shots, including 38 on-goal, and logged one assist for a team-high 23 points. She appeared in all 16 matches, starting all but one. Her 11 goals ties her for fifth on Wayland's career list.
 
Attenborough, a second-year transfer from Northwest College (Wyo.), was second on the team with three goals and also had one assist for seven points, also second on the squad. Twenty-two of her 36 shots were on-goal, and she played in all 16 matches with 15 starts.
 
McComasky, from Glenhaven, Australia, was one of four Pioneers to start all 16 matches. The 5-foot-11 McComasky made an immediate impact and proved to be Wayland's top defensive player, helping the Pioneers to five shutouts, one short of the team record. She also scored twice while taking 11 shots, seven of which were on-goal.
 
WBU's three all-conference picks come after the Pioneers were shut out of SAC post-season honors a year ago when Wayland struggled to a 4-13 record. This season's 9-7-1 record represents the second-best mark in program history, behind only a 13-6-1 ledger in 2013. The five-win improvement over last year ties the program record, also from 2013.
 
"We were leaps and bounds better," coach Shiloh Posey said of his squad that finished sixth in the nine-team SAC.
 
While Posey was disappointed with the Pioneers' 5-1 loss in the first round of the SAC Tournament to University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma, especially since it came two weeks after Wayland beat USAO 1-0, there's no denying Wayland made huge strides over the past year.
 
"The end was a little disappointing, but still it was the second-best season we've ever had. We had a successful season in regards to wins and losses," Posey said. "A 10-win season is what you want to aim for, and we got close, so that was encouraging.
 
"Consistently coming away with double-digit wins is definitely a goal for the program. We'll become more consistent as we become more mentally consistent."
 
The coach admitted to being a little worried going into the season over how all of the new personalities on the roster would come together.
 
"When you have that many new people, sometimes there can be growing pains. But overall the group dynamic was pleasant," he said. "The overall personality of the group was pretty cohesive."
 
And the team's skill level, "even among the freshmen," was "good overall. I was pleased with the skill levels.
 
"The main thing that we tried to teach this year was more of the speed of the game and the tactical part of the game…the difference between where they were and where we needed them to be."
 
The team's improvement over last season was good to see, and what's even better is the Pioneers are due to return all but two graduating seniors in Julianna Montgomery and Audrey Sierra-Bogan, who combined to make 30 starts this season.
 
"We were young in a lot of areas. Probably half the team were freshmen and two-thirds to three-quarters were new students, whether freshmen or transfers," said Posey, who next season could have three senior goalkeepers in Jennette Guia, Kaitlyn Brantzeg and Victoria Bonahoom, who was a medical redshirt this season.
 
"We look forward to having the girls back and building on this year. Obviously the year of experience will be very helpful going into next year. The growth that happens from your first year to your second year is really noticeable under most circumstances."
 
Posey said beefing up his team's offense is a priority.
 
"We have to bring in people in multiple positions that can efficiently and effectively be threats in every game to score goals. In complement to those multiple threats, the environment that we create by practice, by the things we do as a team, more than just on game day – every person buying in to what we're doing is an absolute necessity. Our focus and our concentration will be on our mental consistency about how we approach things."
 
Posey looks back on the 2018 season with lots of pride.
 
"I'm really, really proud of the overall team effort this year. Whether players played every game or just here and there. Overall, the team spirit was pretty solid. We definitely want to take that into the spring season as well as into next fall.
 
"We want to take what we accomplished this year and buy into an even greater degree next year. There are only good things ahead if that will happen."
 
2018 All-Sooner Athletic Conference
FIRST TEAM

Pos.	Name	School	Cl.	Hometown
F	Tameir Grosvenor	Texas Wesleyan	So.	DeSoto, Texas
F	Emma Rice	USAO	Fr.	Norman, Okla.
F	Aspen Carpenter	John Brown	Sr.	Littleton, Colo.
F	Taylor Moore	Wayland Baptist	Jr.	San Angelo, Texas
MF	Cristina Ramos	USAO	Sr.	Madrid, Spain
MF	Madi Caputo	Oklahoma City	Fr.	Broken Arrow, Okla.
MF	Sara Ricks	Oklahoma City	Sr.	Keller, Texas
MF	Aubrey Ruttman	USAO	Fr.	Mustang, Okla.
D	Amber Leachman	Texas Wesleyan	Sr.	Fort Worth, Texas
D	Sarah Hughes	John Brown	Jr.	Albuquerque, N.M.
D	Keilah Ayum	Oklahoma City	Jr.	Pembroke Pines, Fla.
D	Bianca Cardenas	USAO	Sr.	Piedmont, Okla.
GK	Caitlyn Logan	John Brown	So.	Charlotte, N.C.
GK	Lauren Bond	Texas Wesleyan	Sr.	Fort Worth, Texas

 
SECOND TEAM

F	Taylor Ross	Texas Wesleyan	Jr.	Temecula, Calif.
F	Jastin Redman	John Brown	Sr.	Littleton, Colo.
F	Alexa Riddle	Central Christian	Fr.	Garden Grove, Calif.
F	Alyssa Emery	Central Christian	Fr.	Mannsville, Okla.
F	Brittney Stephens	Mid-America Christian	Sr.	Moore, Okla.
MF	Sienna Nealon	John Brown	So.	Windsor, Calif.
MF	Melody Hagen	John Brown	Sr.	North Richland Hills, Texas
MF	Megan Attenborough	Wayland Baptist	Jr.	Oxford, England
MF	Cheyanne Moore	Texas Wesleyan	Fr.	Mustang, Okla.
D	Paige Kula	John Brown	So.	Highlands Ranch, Colo.
D	Madison McComasky	Wayland Baptist	Fr.	Glenhaven, Australia
D	Hailey Terrell	Oklahoma City	So.	Austin, Texas
D	Makena Wood	USAO	So.	Wichita Falls, Texas
GK	Kirsten Thomas	Oklahoma City	Sr.	Keller, Texas
GK	Brandi Hutchison	USAO	Sr.	Mustang, Okla.

 
Player of the Year: Tameir Grosvenor, Texas Wesleyan
Offensive Player of the Year: Christina Ramos, USAO
Defensive Player of the Year: Amber Leachman, Texas Wesleyan
Goalkeeper of the Year: Caitlyn Logan, John Brown
Newcomer of the Year: Rebekah Brantley, Oklahoma City
Freshman of the Year: Emma Rice, USAO
Coach of the Year: Josh Gibbs, Texas Wesleyan