Following their best season in team history, four members of the UBC Okanagan Heat women's soccer team were recognized by Canada West on Friday as the conference announced it's all-star and all-rookie teams.
Two homegrown stars headline the list as midfielders Stefanie Young and Annika Gross, both of Kelowna, B.C., were named a 1st Team All-Star and 2nd Team All-Star respectively. Meanwhile, Eleni Georgacacos and Bre Wong, both from Calgary, were named to the All-Rookie Team.
Young, playing her final season of university soccer, had a record-breaking season for UBCO. In 14 games, the health and exercise sciences major scored 14 goals, which tied her for the lead in Canada West and ranked her tied for fourth overall in U SPORTS. Young also led the conference in shots with 74 and finished the year with 30 shots on goal and four game winning goals.
When the dust had settled on the season, Young, an all-star for the second time in her career, had set numerous school records including most goals in a season and most goals in a game, scoring three hat-tricks over the course of the year to set the new team mark. She also set a new career scoring mark for the program as she's now tallied 19 goals in her Heat career.
Joining Young as an all-star is Gross, the third-year midfielder playing her second season with the Heat after transferring from Simon Fraser University. Starting 13 of 14 games that she played in, the health and exercise sciences major logged 1184 minutes in a defensive midfield position, scoring once and adding one assist. She also had five shots on goal.
Georgacacos and Wong earned their way onto the 11-player All-Rookie Team, with UBCO trailing only the Calgary Dinos, who had three players on the All-Rookie Team, for highest representation in the conference.
Georgacacos, who joined the Heat after a successful career with Calgary South West United, had a fantastic first year with UBCO. Starting 11 of the team's 14 games, Georgacacos played 935 minutes in the midfield, scoring once and adding four assists to finish third on the team in scoring with five points. She added 16 shots, seven shots on goal and one game winning goal.
Meanwhile, Wong, a graduate of the Calgary Blizzard program, was a mainstay in the Heat's defensive back four, starting all 14 games while playing 1235 minutes, the second-most minutes on the team behind only starting keeper Talia Gagnon. She would finish the year with eight shots and five shots on goal while helping her team record the fewest goals allowed in a 14-game season in team history.
The four players recognized by the conference marks the most for a single Heat team in a single season since joining Canada West back in 2011-12.