Big Ten Conference women's soccer awards

The Big Ten Conference presents several annual honors for the best women's soccer players of the season. The conference currently presents individual awards for Forward of the Year, Midfielder of the Year, Defender of the Year, Goalkeeper of the Year, and Freshman of the Year. It also presents an award for Coach of the Year.

Key

*	Awarded a national player of the year award: Hermann Trophy (1988–present) Honda Sports Award (1988–present) TopDrawerSoccer National Player of the Year (2011–present)

Player of the Year (1994–2003)

Joanna Lohman, Penn State, 2003

Big Ten Conference Player of the Year

Season	Player	School	Position	Class	Ref.
1994	Karen Winslow	Michigan State	Midfielder	Senior	[1]
1995	Jennifer Walek	Minnesota	Forward	Junior
1996	Jennifer McElmury	Minnesota	Midfielder	Junior
1997	Jennifer McElmury (2)	Minnesota	Midfielder	Senior
1998	Erica Westrich	Northwestern	Midfielder	Junior
1999	Christie Welsh	Penn State	Forward	Freshman
2000	Christie Welsh (2)	Penn State	Forward	Sophomore
2001	Christie Welsh (3) *	Penn State	Forward	Junior
2002	Abby Crumpton	Michigan	Forward	Senior
2003	Joanna Lohman	Penn State	Midfielder	Senior

Offensive Player of the Year (2004–2010)

Tiffany Weimer, Penn State, 2× Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year

Big Ten Conference Offensive Player of the Year

Season	Player	School	Position	Class	Ref.
2004	Tiffany Weimer	Penn State	Forward	Junior	[1]
2005	Tiffany Weimer (2)	Penn State	Forward	Senior
2006	Ella Masar	Illinois	Forward	Junior
2007	Parrissa Eyorokon	Purdue	Forward	Senior
2008	Laura Heyboer	Michigan State	Forward	Freshman
2009	Katie Schoepfer	Penn State	Forward	Senior
2010	Paige Maxwell	Ohio State	Forward	Junior

Defensive Player of the Year (2004–2010)

Alyssa Naeher, Penn State, 2× Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year

Big Ten Conference Defensive Player of the Year

Season	Player	School	Position	Class	Ref.
2004	Natalie Jacobs	Penn State	Defender	Sophomore	[1]
2005	Christen Karniski	Illinois	Defender	Senior
	Lindsay Bach	Penn State	Defender	Fifth-year senior
2006	Emily Zurrer	Illinois	Defender	Sophomore
	Ali Krieger	Penn State	Defender	Senior
2007	Alyssa Naeher	Penn State	Goalkeeper	Sophomore
2008	Kelsey Hood	Minnesota	Midfielder	Senior
2009	Alyssa Naeher (2)	Penn State	Goalkeeper	Senior
2010	Cassie Dickerson	Ohio State	Defender	Senior

Forward of the Year (2011–present)

Maya Hayes, Penn State, 2× Big Ten Forward of the Year

Big Ten Conference Forward of the Year

Season	Player	School	Class	Ref.
2011	Maya Hayes	Penn State	Sophomore	[1]
2012	Maya Hayes (2)	Penn State	Junior
2013	Jannelle Flaws	Illinois	Junior
2014	Jannelle Flaws (2)	Illinois	Senior
2015	Simone Kolander	Minnesota	Junior
2016	Simone Kolander (2)	Minnesota	Senior
2017	Maddy Williams	Purdue	Senior
2018	April Bockin	Minnesota	Senior
2019	Dani Rhodes	Wisconsin	Senior
2020	Ally Schlegel	Penn State	Sophomore
2021	Sarah Griffith	Purdue	Senior	[2]
2022	Lauren DeBeau	Michigan State	Senior	[3]
2023	Eleanor Dale	Nebraska	Senior	[4]
2024	Khyah Harper	Minnesota	Senior	[5]
2025	Kennedy Bell	Michigan State	Junior	[6]

Midfielder of the Year (2011–present)

Rose Lavelle, Wisconsin, 2× Big Ten Midfielder of the Year

Big Ten Conference Midfielder of the Year

Season	Player	School	Class	Ref.
2011	Vanessa DiBernardo	Illinois	Sophomore	[1]
2012	Christine Nairn *	Penn State	Senior
2013	Jordan Jackson	Nebraska	Senior
2014	Rocky Rodríguez	Penn State	Junior
2015	Rose Lavelle	Wisconsin	Junior
2016	Rose Lavelle (2)	Wisconsin	Senior
2017	Nikki Walts	Ohio State	Senior
2018	Emily Ogle	Penn State	Senior
2019	Sarah Stratigakis	Michigan	Junior
2020	Sam Coffey	Penn State	Senior
2021	Frankie Tagliaferri	Rutgers	Senior
2022	Emma Jaskaniec	Wisconsin	Senior
2023	Justina Gaynor	Michigan State	Senior
2024	Helena Sampaio	USC	Senior	[7]
2025	Maribel Flores	USC	Junior	[6]

Defender of the Year (2011–present)

Whitney Church, Penn State, 2× Big Ten Defender of the Year

Big Ten Conference Defender of the Year

Season	Player	School	Class	Ref.
2011	Jenna Carosio	Illinois	Senior	[1]
2012	Whitney Church	Penn State	Sophomore
2013	Ari Romero	Nebraska	Senior
2014	Whitney Church (2)	Penn State	Senior
2015	Erica Skroski	Rutgers	Senior
2016	Rashida Beal	Minnesota	Senior
2017	Morgan Wolcott	Ohio State	Senior
2018	Kaleigh Riehl	Penn State	Junior
2019	Camryn Biegalski	Wisconsin	Senior
2020	Izzy Rodriguez	Ohio State	Senior
2021	Gabby Provenzano	Rutgers	Senior
2022	Ruby Diodati	Michigan State	Graduate
2023	Cori Dyke	Penn State	Fifth-year senior
2024	Lilly Reale	UCLA	Senior	[7]
2025	Kolo Suliafu	Washington	Senior	[6]

Goalkeeper of the Year (2011–present)

Casey Murphy, Rutgers, 2× Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Year

Big Ten Conference Goalkeeper of the Year

Season	Player	School	Class	Ref.
2011	Michele Dalton	Wisconsin	Senior	[1]
2012	Haley Kopmeyer	Michigan	Senior
2013	Tarah Hobbs	Minnesota	Freshman
2014	Genevieve Richard	Wisconsin	Senior
2015	Casey Murphy	Rutgers	Sophomore
2016	Lauren Clem	Northwestern	Junior
2017	Casey Murphy (2)	Rutgers	Senior
2018	Devon Kerr	Ohio State	Senior
2019	Jordyn Bloomer	Wisconsin	Junior
2020	Jordyn Bloomer (2)	Wisconsin	Senior
2021	Lauren Kozal	Michigan State	Junior
2022	Lauren Kozal (2)	Michigan State	Senior
2023	Jamie Gerstenberg	Indiana	Junior
2024	Laurence Gladu	USC	Graduate	[7]
2025	Molly Pritchard	Ohio State	Senior	[6]

Freshman of the Year (1994–present)

Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Year

Season	Player	School	Position	Ref.
1994	Jennifer McElmury	Minnesota	Midfielder	[1]
1995	Tracy Grose	Indiana	Forward
1995	Jennifer Plante	Ohio State	Defender
1996	Erica Westrich	Northwestern	Midfielder
1997	Laurie Seidl	Minnesota	Forward
1998	Emily Oleksiuk	Penn State	Goalkeeper
1999	Christie Welsh	Penn State	Forward
2000	Joanna Lohman	Penn State	Midfielder
2001	Lisa Grubb	Ohio State	Forward
2002	Tiffany Weimer	Penn State	Forward
2003	Ali Krieger	Penn State	Midfielder
2004	Lara Dickenmann	Ohio State	Midfielder
2005	Jessica Okoroafo	Purdue	Forward
2006	Chichi Nweke	Illinois	Forward
2007	Jessica Stellhorn	Purdue	Defender
2008	Laura Heyboer	Michigan State	Forward
2009	Christine Nairn	Penn State	Midfielder
2010	Vanessa DiBernardo	Illinois	Midfielder
2011	Taylor Uhl	Minnesota	Forward
2012	Rocky Rodríguez	Penn State	Midfielder
2013	Rose Lavelle	Wisconsin	Midfielder
2014	Emily Ogle	Penn State	Midfielder
2015	Victoria Pickett	Wisconsin	Midfielder
2016	Nicole Whitley	Rutgers	Midfielder
2017	Amirah Ali	Rutgers	Forward
2018	Meagan McClelland	Rutgers	Goalkeeper
2019	Ally Schlegel	Penn State	Forward
2020	Peyton McNamara	Ohio State	Midfielder
	Eva Alonso	Penn State	Defender
2021	Riley Tiernan	Rutgers	Forward
2022	Caterina Regazzoni	Northwestern	Midfielder
2023	Bella Najera	Michigan State	Forward/midfielder
2024	Nicki Fraser	UCLA	Defender	[7]
2025	Bella Winn	UCLA	Forward	[6]

Coach of the Year (1994–present)

Big Ten Conference Coach of the Year

Season	Coach	School	Ref.
1994	Tom Saxton	Michigan State	[1]
1995	Sue Montagne	Minnesota
1996	Dean Duerst	Wisconsin
1997	Sue Montagne (2)	Minnesota
1998	Patrick Farmer	Penn State
1999	Stephanie Gabbert	Iowa
2000	Tom Saxton (2)	Michigan State
2001	Lori Walker	Ohio State
2001	Paula Wilkins	Penn State
2002	Rob Klatte	Purdue
2003	Paula Wilkins (2)	Penn State
2004	Paula Wilkins (3)	Penn State
2005	Paula Wilkins (4)	Penn State
2006	Paula Wilkins (5)	Penn State
2007	Rob Klatte (2)	Purdue
2008	Mikki Denney Wright	Minnesota
2009	Erica Walsh	Penn State
2010	Lori Walker (2)	Ohio State
2011	Janet Rayfield	Illinois
2012	Erica Walsh (2)	Penn State
2013	John Walker	Nebraska
2014	Erica Walsh (3)	Penn State
2015	Paula Wilkins (6)	Wisconsin
2016	Stefanie Golan	Minnesota
2017	Lori Walker-Hock (3)	Ohio State
2018	Erica Walsh Dambach (4)	Penn State
2019	Paula Wilkins (7)	Wisconsin
2020	Erica Walsh Dambach (5)	Penn State
2021	Mike O'Neill	Rutgers
2022	Jeff Hosler	Michigan State
2023	John Walker (2)	Nebraska
2024	Jane Alokunis	USC	[7]
2024	Nicole Van Dyke	Washington	[6]

See also

• Atlantic Coast Conference women's soccer awards
• Big 12 Conference women's soccer awards
• Pac-12 Conference women's soccer awards
• Southeastern Conference women's soccer awards

References

1. "Big Ten Women's Soccer Record Book – Big Ten Individual Honors" (PDF). p. 11. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
2. "Purdue sports roundup: Sarah Griffith honored for record-setting women's soccer season". Journal & Courier . October 29, 2021. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
3. "Michigan State's Lauren DeBeau taking over Big Ten soccer". WLNS-TV. November 3, 2022. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
4. Just, Amie (October 27, 2023). "Eleanor Dale named Big Ten forward of the year, as if there was any doubt" . Husker Extra. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
5. O'Hara, Nolan (November 1, 2024). "Gophers soccer's Khyah Harper named Big Ten Forward of the Year". Sports Illustrated . Retrieved December 24, 2024.
6. "Big Ten Conference Announces 2025 Women's Soccer Postseason Honors". Big Ten Conference. November 4, 2025. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
7. "Big Ten Conference Announces 2024 Women's Soccer Postseason Honors". Big Ten Conference. November 1, 2024. Retrieved December 24, 2024.