Photo by: Matthew Mitchell
Trio of Spartans Take Home Historic Big Ten, National Weekly Women’s Soccer Accolades
10/25/2022 6:01:00 PM | Women's Soccer
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State women's soccer senior forward Lauren DeBeau was named a consensus National Player of the Week and Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week, while senior defender Raegan Cox and senior goalkeeper Lauren Kozal garnered Big Ten Defensive Player and Goalkeeper of the Week, respectively, as announced Tuesday.
DeBeau was named National Player of the Week by both TopDrawerSoccer and College Soccer News, the first player to earn that accolade from multiple agencies in program history. The only prior National Player of the Week honor in Spartan history was awarded by TopDrawerSoccer to Michigan State Athletics Hall-of-Famer Laura (Heyboer) Heethuis on Oct. 13, 2008. DeBeau is the only College Soccer News National Player of the Week in program history.
The Shelby Township, Michigan, native was also named to each agency's respective National Team of the Week, MSU's seventh and eighth National Team of the Week awards of the 2022 campaign. DeBeau scored both of Michigan State's goals last week, leading the Spartans to a pair of 1-0 victories over No. 17 Ohio State on the road, as well at No. 14 Rutgers in the regular season finale at DeMartin Stadium. Her goal in the 44th minute proved enough to lift Michigan State to its first outright conference title in program history.
In the following contest against Rutgers, DeBeau ensured MSU's fourth Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week accolade of the season and her second individually, netting an unbelievable goal with less than five minutes remaining against the Scarlet Knights. Her goal in the 86th minute not only ensured Michigan State's first unbeaten conference season in the Big Ten, but provided the Green & White with their first-ever win over conference rival Rutgers.
Kozal made Big Ten Conference history on Tuesday, garnering league records for Goalkeeper of the Week accolades in a career and in a single season. The Ada, Michigan, native picked up two solo shutouts and made a combined six saves in blanking the Buckeyes and Scarlet Knights. She tied a school record with her 14th win in goal this season, matching the mark set by Renee Richert in 1986.
The senior earned her fifth career Goalkeeper of the Week honor, tying the Big Ten career record set twice before (Rutgers' Meagan McClelland from 2018-22 and Wisconsin's Jordyn Bloomer from 2017-21). She received her third Goalkeeper of the Week award this season, a new conference record — a Big Ten netminder had won the award twice in a season 12 times since the honor was created in 2018 (including Indiana's Jamie Gerstenberg and Penn State's Katherine Asman, who were two-time recipients this year).
Tasked with two of the most challenging individual defensive assignments in the league, Cox took on Ohio State's Kayla Fischer and Rutgers' Riley Tiernan, holding both of her opponents without points in MSU's 11th and 12th respective shutouts of the year. With Cox anchoring the back line, MSU has risen to the top of NCAA Division I in scoring defense, yielding a nation's-best goals-against average of less than 0.400. Cox garnered her first career Big Ten Player of the Week accolade, and was MSU's second consecutive Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week after graduate defender Samantha White took home that accolade on Oct. 18.
Sixth-ranked and top-seeded Michigan State returns to action on Sunday, Oct. 30, as the Green & White welcome the eighth-seeded Minnesota Golden Gophers to DeMartin Stadium in the quarterfinals of the 2022 Big Ten Tournament.
FOLLOW THE SPARTANS
Visit MSUSpartans.com for more information on Michigan State women's soccer. Fans can keep up to date with the Spartan women's soccer team on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter by following @MSU_WSoccer.
DeBeau was named National Player of the Week by both TopDrawerSoccer and College Soccer News, the first player to earn that accolade from multiple agencies in program history. The only prior National Player of the Week honor in Spartan history was awarded by TopDrawerSoccer to Michigan State Athletics Hall-of-Famer Laura (Heyboer) Heethuis on Oct. 13, 2008. DeBeau is the only College Soccer News National Player of the Week in program history.
The Shelby Township, Michigan, native was also named to each agency's respective National Team of the Week, MSU's seventh and eighth National Team of the Week awards of the 2022 campaign. DeBeau scored both of Michigan State's goals last week, leading the Spartans to a pair of 1-0 victories over No. 17 Ohio State on the road, as well at No. 14 Rutgers in the regular season finale at DeMartin Stadium. Her goal in the 44th minute proved enough to lift Michigan State to its first outright conference title in program history.
In the following contest against Rutgers, DeBeau ensured MSU's fourth Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week accolade of the season and her second individually, netting an unbelievable goal with less than five minutes remaining against the Scarlet Knights. Her goal in the 86th minute not only ensured Michigan State's first unbeaten conference season in the Big Ten, but provided the Green & White with their first-ever win over conference rival Rutgers.
Kozal made Big Ten Conference history on Tuesday, garnering league records for Goalkeeper of the Week accolades in a career and in a single season. The Ada, Michigan, native picked up two solo shutouts and made a combined six saves in blanking the Buckeyes and Scarlet Knights. She tied a school record with her 14th win in goal this season, matching the mark set by Renee Richert in 1986.
The senior earned her fifth career Goalkeeper of the Week honor, tying the Big Ten career record set twice before (Rutgers' Meagan McClelland from 2018-22 and Wisconsin's Jordyn Bloomer from 2017-21). She received her third Goalkeeper of the Week award this season, a new conference record — a Big Ten netminder had won the award twice in a season 12 times since the honor was created in 2018 (including Indiana's Jamie Gerstenberg and Penn State's Katherine Asman, who were two-time recipients this year).
Tasked with two of the most challenging individual defensive assignments in the league, Cox took on Ohio State's Kayla Fischer and Rutgers' Riley Tiernan, holding both of her opponents without points in MSU's 11th and 12th respective shutouts of the year. With Cox anchoring the back line, MSU has risen to the top of NCAA Division I in scoring defense, yielding a nation's-best goals-against average of less than 0.400. Cox garnered her first career Big Ten Player of the Week accolade, and was MSU's second consecutive Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week after graduate defender Samantha White took home that accolade on Oct. 18.
Sixth-ranked and top-seeded Michigan State returns to action on Sunday, Oct. 30, as the Green & White welcome the eighth-seeded Minnesota Golden Gophers to DeMartin Stadium in the quarterfinals of the 2022 Big Ten Tournament.
FOLLOW THE SPARTANS
Visit MSUSpartans.com for more information on Michigan State women's soccer. Fans can keep up to date with the Spartan women's soccer team on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter by following @MSU_WSoccer.
Players Mentioned
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