MARKHAM, Ont. - Fanshawe College's Jade Kovacevic (Acton) is the 2018 Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) Women's Soccer Player of the Year. She received the award in a ceremony held in Markham, Ont., on Wednesday evening.
The OCAA Scoring Champion established a new regular season record with 30 goals over 10 matches, including nine on Sept. 8 against Lambton to set a new single game record. Kovacevic now has 79 career goals, four shy of the OCAA record of 83 set by Tiffany Johnson of Cambrian. The fourth-year forward is also an OCAA All-Star and a Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) All-Canadian.
Sheridan's Zoe Derkach (Brampton) is also a CCAA All-Canadian. The first-year striker was the Central Division Scoring Champion with 11 goals in 10 matches. Sheridan went 8-2, a vast improvement compared to its 5-5 record a season ago. Derkach is also an OCAA All-Star.
Durham's Alex Bianchi is the OCAA's nominee for CCAA Coach of the Year. The East Division Coach of the Year, Bianchi led Durham to a 9-2-1 this season, allowing just six goals against. Durham's 28 points were a five-point improvement over last season. Other candidates for the award were Central Division Coach of the Year Leslie Fitzpatrick of George Brown and West Division Coach of the Year April Douwes of Redeemer.
The Overall Rookie of the Year is Sona Makulova (Czech Republic) of Seneca. Makulova was the East Division Scoring Champion with a dozen goals in 10 games as Seneca won every game she participated in. She is also an OCAA All-Star. Other candidates for the award were Central Division Rookie of the Year Lily Campbell (Erin) of Humber and West Division Rookie of the Year Lilly Brown (Hamilton) of Redeemer. Campbell is also an OCAA All-Star.
The top defenders of 2018 include East Division Defensive Player of the Year Kristen Bettencourt (Ajax) of Seneca; Central Division Defensive Player of the Year Dominika Philip (Mississauga) of Humber; and West Division Defensive Player of the Year Alex Clements (London) of Fanshawe. All three are also OCAA All-Stars.
The three regular season champions, Seneca in the East Division, Humber in the Central Division and Fanshawe in the West Division, were the best defensive teams in each of the respective divisions.
Several OCAA All-Stars were also recognized. In addition to Makulova, OCAA East Division All-Stars include Algonquin's Georgia Iliopoulos (Ottawa) and Victoria Trimble (Sutton West); Durham's Bailey Colangelo (Whitby), Erin Dicaire (Oshawa), Madison Haigh (Bowmanville ), Cory Lapointe (Whitby) and Milinda Roblero (Pickering); and Seneca's Raven Edwards-Dowdall (Toronto) and Ellie Hayes (Gilford).
In addition to Campbell, Derkach and Philip, OCAA Central Division All-Stars include George Brown's Cynthia Pellegrino (Mississauga) and Brianna Samuels-McLaughlin (Scarborough); Humber's Zoe Longsworth (Toronto), Hayley Mackie (Waterloo) and Claudia Piazza (Brampton); Sheridan's Melanie Jubenville (Halton Hills) and Savanna Wood (Ottawa); and U of T Mississauga's Jayde Forde (Brampton).
Along with Clements and Kovacevic, OCAA West Division All-Stars include Fanshawe's Nicole Nielsen (London); Mohawk's Sabrina Mariani (Guelph); Niagara's Sophia Al-Kayed (St. Catharines), Lauren Frasca (Welland), Kara Latham (Welland) and Michelle Maecker (Fonthill); Redeemer's Sam Serro (Hamilton) and Maya Torrie (Bongor); and St. Clair's Cassie Nicholas (Windsor).
2018 OCAA WOMEN'S SOCCER AWARDS
OCAA Women's Soccer Player of the Year
Jade Kovacevic, Fanshawe
CCAA All-Canadians
Zoe Derkach, Sheridan
Jade Kovacevic, Fanshawe
CCAA Coach of the Year Nominee
Alex Bianchi, Durham
OCAA Women's Soccer League Scoring Champion
Jade Kovacevic, Fanshawe
OCAA Women's Soccer Overall Rookie of the Year
Sona Makulova, Seneca
Regular Season Champions
East - Seneca Sting
Central - Humber Hawks
West - Fanshawe Falcons
OCAA Women's Soccer East Division Coach of the Year
Alex Bianchi, Durham
OCAA Women's Soccer Central Division Coach of the Year
Leslie Fitzpatrick, George Brown
OCAA Women's Soccer West Division Coach of the Year
April Douwes, Redeemer
OCAA Women's Soccer East Division Rookie of the Year
Sona Makulova, Seneca
OCAA Women's Soccer Central Division Rookie of the Year
Lily Campbell, Humber
OCAA Women's Soccer West Division Rookie of the Year
Lilly Brown, Redeemer
OCAA Women's Soccer East Division Defensive Player of the Year
Kristen Bettencourt, Seneca
OCAA Women's Soccer Central Division Defensive Player of the Year
Dominika Philip, Humber
OCAA Women's Soccer West Division Defensive Player of the Year
Alex Clements, Fanshawe
OCAA Women's Soccer East Division Scoring Champion
Sona Makulova, Seneca
OCAA Women's Soccer Central Division Scoring Champion
Zoe Derkach, Sheridan
OCAA Women's Soccer West Division Scoring Champion
Jade Kovacevic, Fanshawe
OCAA Women's Soccer East Division Best Defensive Team
Seneca Sting
OCAA Women's Soccer Central Division Best Defensive Team
Humber Hawks
OCAA Women's Soccer West Division Best Defensive Team
Fanshawe Falcons
OCAA Women's Soccer East Division All-Stars
Kristen Bettencourt, Seneca
Bailey Colangelo, Durham
Erin Dicaire, Durham
Raven Edwards-Dowdall, Seneca
Madison Haigh, Durham
Ellie Hayes, Seneca
Georgia Iliopoulos, Algonquin
Cory Lapointe, Durham
Sona Makulova, Seneca
Milinda Roblero, Durham
Victoria Trimble, Algonquin
OCAA Women's Soccer Central Division All-Stars
Lily Campbell, Humber
Zoe Derkach, Sheridan
Jayde Forde, U of T Mississauga
Melanie Jubenville, Sheridan
Zoe Longsworth, Humber
Hayley Mackie, Humber
Cynthia Pellegrino, George Brown
Claudia Piazza, Humber
Dominika Philip, Humber
Brianna Samuels-McLaughlin, George Brown
Savanna Wood, Sheridan
OCAA Women's Soccer West Division All-Stars
Sophia Al-Kayed, Niagara
Alex Clements, Fanshawe
Lauren Frasca, Niagara
Jade Kovacevic, Fanshawe
Kara Latham, Niagara
Michelle Maecker, Niagara
Sabrina Mariani, Mohawk
Cassie Nicholas, St. Clair
Nicole Nielsen, Fanshawe
Sam Serro, Redeemer
Maya Torrie, Redeemer
- OCAA -
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