April 9, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; April 9, 2015 - The Penn State women's soccer team held its annual end-of-the-year banquet, honoring seniors Kori Chapic (Russell, Ohio), Whitney Church (Ashburn, Va.), Emily Hurd (Sammamish, Wash.) and Kindrah Kohne (Homer, N.Y.) and handing out awards to those who made significant contributions to the team during the season.
Maddie Elliston (Omaha, Neb.) was handed the Freshman of the Year title, Church earned Defensive Player of the Year honors, Raquel Rodriguez (San Jose, Costa Rica) captured Offensive Player of the Year accolades and Kohne was named the Rodney Swineford Award recipient, which honors the player who best epitomizes the values of Penn State women's soccer.
Coming off of her first career cap with the U.S. Under-20 Women's National Team at the 10 Nations U-19 International Tournament last month, Elliston picked up Big Ten All-Freshman Team honors in 2014 after logging the second-most minutes on the team on the backfield.
Kohne, Penn State's Big Ten Sportsmanship Award winner, was the 2014-15 Student-Athlete Advisory Board vice president for the 2014-15 school year, and earned her third Academic All-Big Ten honor this season. In 2014, she was integral in easing the transition for the Nittany Lions' 11 freshman, appearing in 15 games in the midfield.
Rodriguez, the 2014 Big Ten Midfielder of the Year, a National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Scholar All-America pick, NSCAA All-Great Lakes Region first team member and Academic All-Big Ten honoree, posted 17 points in 18 games played. A member of the Costa Rican Women's National Team, Rodriguez was nominated for the CONCACAF Player of the Year award in December and was recently named a team captain for the 2015 squad.
Church picked up an NSCAA All-America first team selection, her second Big Ten Defender of the Year title and her second NSCAA All-Great Lakes Region first team nod in 2014. She was also a Missouri Athletic Club (M.A.C.) Hermann Trophy Award semifinalist, Penn State's 15th honoree. The Ashburn, Va., native begins her rookie campaign in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) with the Washington Spirit on Friday.
Chapic, a 2014 All-Big Ten second team selection, earned her third Academic All-Big Ten pick in 2014. She recorded a career-best 15 points in 2,041 minutes on the pitch in 2014, scoring a pair of goals on Senior Day to propel the Nittany Lions to its 16th Big Ten title and a Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honor.
Hurd collected NSCAA All-Great Lakes Region honors for the first time in her career after a 2014 campaign as the Nittany Lions' captain. The All-Big Ten second team pick finishes her career seventh on Penn State's all-time assists list with 28, leading the Nittany Lions with eight, tied for her career-best mark. She graduated in December with her Master's degree in Higher Education.
Penn State wraps up its spring schedule on April 15 with a 7:30 p.m. match on Jeffrey Field against Saint Francis. The Nittany Lions are maintaining a 2-2 record during the campaign, posting respective 5-0 and 2-0 shutouts against Colgate and Bucknell and suffering 2-0 and 5-0 losses to the NWSL's Sky Blue FC and Western New York Flash.