Big 12 Reveals 2024 Soccer All-Big 12 Awards – 10/29/24 01:00 PMT
CU picked up three Big 12 all-conference awards as Arizona State, Colorado, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech each earned one. Overall, 13 programs received selections to the First, Second and the All-Freshman Teams. The All-Big 12 awards were voted by the league’s head coaches who could not vote for their own student-athletes.
The Horned Frogs earned the Conference’s offensive position awards as Bella Diorio earned Forward of the Year joined by teammate Oli Pena being selected as the Midfielder of the Year while Eric Bell was named Coach of the Year.
Colorado’s Jordan Nytes was tabbed Goalkeeper of the Year while Texas Tech’s Macy Blackburn was designated the league’s Defender of the Year and Arizona State’s Kierra Blundell earned Freshman of the Year. Oklahoma State’s Alex Morris was named Big 12 soccer’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
TCU led the Conference with 11 selections between all three teams while TTU garnered eight, OSU earned seven, BYU tallied six, West Virginia recorded five and Colorado picked up four honorees. Arizona, ASU, Kansas, and Utah registered three selections a piece as Baylor, UCF and K-State had one honor each. The First Team features 22 players while the Second Team features 23 players due to a tie.
Diorio posted a league-leading 11 goals, tying for first with two other players. Appearing in 18 games, she also tallied four assists and 26 points, averaging 1.44 points per game. The sophomore led the Conference during league play with 18 points while scoring the league’s second-most goals (seven). The unanimous selection is the first Horned Frog to earn the yearly Big 12 offensive honor since Grace Collins during the 2020 season.
Pena registered a team-leading nine assists out of the 44 tallied by the program during the 2024 season. She averaged 0.50 assists per game and scored two goals. During Big 12 play, she tied for the Conference lead in assists (6) and assists per game (0.55). It is the junior’s inaugural selection to the First Team after earning Second Team honors a season ago.
Bell, in his 13th season at the helm of the TCU program, claimed his third Big 12 accolade (2020 and 2021). Leading the team to its third regular season title with a 9-0-2 conference record (14-2-2 overall), the Horned Frogs outscored its opponents 48-16 while the team dominated conference play by scoring 33 goals and only allowing nine. During the season, the team picked up ranked wins over then-No. 20 Alabama in its season opener (3-0) and collected a 6-1 victory over then-No. 14/23 Colorado in early October.
Blackburn claimed the second consecutive Defender of the Year honor for the Red Raiders as the team only allowed 11 goals from its opponents, matching last season’s total. The TTU backline tallied eight shutouts during league play out of 11 matches, finishing the regular season with a 13-3-2 overall record and 8-1-2 in Big 12 play. The senior also set the program’s career assist record this season, sitting now at 30 assists.
Nytes collected her second Goalkeeper of the Year honor in three seasons as she recorded 11 shutouts and grabbed 78 saves. She previously shared the yearly honor during her freshman season at OSU in 2022. The junior played 1,555 minutes in goal for the Buffs and posted the league’s second-best .857 goals against average, only allowing 13 goals.
Blundell was tabbed the best freshman by the league’s head coaches after scoring 22 points during the season, tied for fourth in the Conference and the most posted by any first-year player in the league. During her first campaign with the Sun Devils, she tallied the team’s most eight goals and the second-most six assists.
Morris earned the first Scholar-Athlete of the Year award for the Cowgirl program. The senior graduated with a degree in biology/pre-medical science with a 3.89 GPA in May 2023 and is now working toward a graduate certificate in health care administration. The wing back has played in every match this season, helping the OSU backline to hold its opponents to eight goals in 19 matches.
Big 12 Soccer All-Big 12 Awards
Coach of the Year: Eric Bell, TCU
Forward of the Year: Bella Diorio, TCU*
Midfielder of the Year: Oli Pena, TCU
Defender of the Year: Macy Blackburn, Texas Tech*
Goalkeeper of the Year: Jordan Nytes, Colorado
Freshman of the Year: Kierra Blundell, Arizona State
Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Alex Morris, Oklahoma State
First Team
GK Jordan Nytes, Colorado
GK Faith Nguyen, Texas Tech
D Avery Frischknecht, BYU
D Faith Leyba, Colorado
D Caroline Castans, Kansas
D Alex Morris, Oklahoma State
D Maddie Mooney, TCU
D Macy Blackburn, Texas Tech*
D Annika Leslie, West Virginia
MF Xcaret Pineda, Oklahoma State
MF Laudan Wilson, Oklahoma State
MF Morgan Brown, TCU
MF Oli Pena, TCU
MF Peyton Parsons, Texas Tech
MF Lilly McCarthy, West Virginia
F Allie Fryer, BYU
F Chloe Netzel, UCF
F Lexi Watts, Kansas
F Seven Castain, TCU
F Bella Diorio, TCU*
F Caroline Kelly, TCU
F Ashleigh Williams, Texas Tech
Second Team
GK Grace Gordon, Oklahoma State
GK Megan Plaschko, TCU
D Aranda Hurge, Arizona
D Kelly Bullock, Utah
D Jazmin Brown, K-State
D Mollie Breiner, Oklahoma State
D Jennie Immethun, TCU
D Cassie Taylor, Texas Tech
MF Gianna Christiansen, Arizona
MF Enasia Colon, State
MF Mika Krommenhoek, BYU
MF Mackenzee Vance, BYU
MF Juliauna Hayward, Colorado
MF Lauren Memoly, TCU
MF Jillian Martinez, Texas Tech
MF AJ Rodriguez, West Virginia
F Nicole Dallin, Arizona
F Kierra Blundell, Arizona State
F Tyler Isgrig, Baylor
F Gracie Bindbeutel, Oklahoma State
F Taylor Zdrojewski, Texas Tech
F Taliana Kaufusi, Utah
F Taylor White, West Virginia
All-Freshman Team
Kierra Blundell, Arizona State
Lucy Kesler, BYU
Mika Krommenhoek, BYU
Jace Holley, Colorado
Jillian Gregorski, Kansas
Katelyn Hoppers, Oklahoma State
Morgan Brown, TCU
Cameron Patton, TCU
Peyton Dyess, Texas Tech
Bella Woods, Utah
Gianna Koss, West Virginia
* unanimous selection
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Press Release Courtesy of the Big 12 Conference
