Bruins collect three major awards, eight named all-CAC
Sophomore Ximena Jauregui, senior Jenn Amaro, and coach Tom White headlined the major award winners from BU and eight players earned all-conference honors when the Continental Athletic Conference announced their year-end awards on Thursday.
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -- Sophomore Ximena Jauregui, senior Jenn Amaro, and coach Tom White headlined the major award winners from BU and eight players earned all-conference honors when the Continental Athletic Conference announced their year-end awards on Thursday.
Ximena Jauregui, perhaps Bellevue's most versatile player, turned in one of the most decorated regular-seasons in recent program history earning four CAC Player of the Week awards, two each as Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week. She led the team with eight goals, nine assists, and 25 points and scored Bellevue's lone goal – the game-winner – in BU's first-ever win over Georgia Gwinnett.
Jenn Amaro, following an outstanding regular-season, earned CAC Goalkeeper of the Year distinction. She has played every minute in net for Bellevue posting a 0.63 goals against average, .872 save percentage, and nine shutouts. For her efforts, she was twice selected CAC Defensive Player of the Week including taking home NAIA National Defensive Player of the Week honors after securing a program-record for saves in a win with 12 against Georgia Gwinnett.
Earning CAC Coach of the Year honors was Tom White who, in his fourth year in charge of the women's soccer program, guided the Bruins to a 12-3-1 regular season including a perfect 5-0-0 mark in CAC play to secure BU's first conference regular-season championship since 2016.
Sophomore Sami Reding joined Jauregui and Amaro in earning first team all-conference honors. Reding scored a team-high eight goals and added an assist thus far on the season and ranks second to Jauregui in points with 17. She bagged game-winners against William Penn and at Waldorf.
Five additional Bellevue players collected second team all-CAC recognition; senior Millie Hopkisson, sophomores Sinai Bernal, Ella Pelletier, and Claudia Gallegos, and freshman Emma Stock.
Hopkisson served as a lynchpin between the Bruin back line and the midfield. She played elite level defense and showed great awareness and patience in distributing the ball to her teammates often engineering attacks out of the back.
Bernal started all 16 games as an attacking winger, scoring a goal and four assists. Her speed was game-changing and caused opposing defenses to overstretch at critical junctures allowing the BU attack room to operate in the attacking end of the field.
Pelletier spent time in both the midfield and up front, scoring six goals which was good for this on the team. A knack for finding the back of the net at critical times, four of her six goals served as the game-winner.
Gallegos and Stock were mainstays along a stingy Bruin back line. The center backs oversaw a defense that yielded just 4.8 shots on goal per game and posted nine shutouts and allowed multiple goals just twice.
The Bruins are the No. 1 seed in this weekend's CAC Tournament and open with Viterbo University on Friday at 4 p.m. with the winner securing one of two automatic bids to the NAIA National Tournament.