KOVACEVIC HEADLINES OCAA WOMEN'S SOCCER AWARDS

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 -

ABOUT ONTARIO COLLEGES ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION

The Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) is the recognized leader in intercollegiate athletics in the province, dedicated to student-athlete and sport development. The OCAA has 27 members sponsoring 12 varsity sports.

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Marketing and Communications
Ontario Colleges Athletic Association
Tel: 416-426-7041
Fax: 416-426-7308
E-mail: bell-webster@ocaa.com