All-Big 12 Soccer award winners revealed for 2023 season

Winning its first Conference regular season title, Texas Tech led the individual All-Big 12 Soccer awards with four honorees while Texas claimed two selections. The Red Raiders’ Hannah Anderson was named Defender of the Year, Madison White earned Goalkeeper of the Year, Sam Courtwright was voted Freshman of the Year and Tom Stone was the unanimous choice for Coach of the Year.

UT’s Trinity Byars won her second consecutive offensive All-Big 12 award, earning Forward of the Year while teammate Lexi Missimo took Midfielder of the Year. Forward and Midfielder were added to the yearly awards roster, replacing Offensive Player of the Year.

Byars finished the regular season with 15 goals, 11 assists and 41 points. She was one of two unanimous selections to the All-Big 12 First Team, marking her third consecutive season to be a consensus choice. The forward was voted to the 2023 Preseason Team and has been recognized twice this season as a Player of the Week.

(Texas Tech captures first Big 12 regular season championship in program history)

Missimo earned Midfielder of the Year after leading the nation in assists (18), total points (58) and ranking second in goals (20). She also became the first Longhorn in program history to register 15+ goals and assists in a single season. Receiving Big 12 weekly honors four times this season, the junior was named National Player of the Week twice. Missimo’s 18 assists this season have placed her third on the Big 12 all-time assist leaders list with 49 career assists.

Anderson is the first Red Raider to be honored as the Conference’s best defender while making her second straight appearance on the All-Big 12 First Team. Helping the program achieve its best Big 12 finish (8-0-2) to remain undefeated with an overall 14-0-4 record, the Red Raider backline held opponents to a combined eight goals this season and four during Conference play.

White registered 11 shutouts, the nation’s second-most, en route to her second career Big 12 yearly award after winning Freshman of the Year in 2019. The goalkeeper played all 1,620 minutes possible in the net for Texas Tech and had a 0.44 goals-against average. White led the Conference in fewest goals allowed (8) and has been recognized as Goalkeeper of the Week three times this season.

Courtwright played an active role in the Red Raider offense this season, scoring five goals, the team’s third-most. She also tallied six assists and saw 1,310 minutes on the pitch, which sat as the fourth-most minutes played on the team. The freshman is the third in program history to receive the Freshman of the Year and the first since teammate Madison White was named in 2019.

Stone collected his first Coach of the Year honor in his 17^th season with the Red Raiders. Leading the team to its first Big 12 regular season title and its first undefeated season (14-0-4), Texas Tech’s 2023 season was one of its best in program history. The Red Raiders received their all-time highest ranking at No. 5 and were also announced the No. 5 overall team in the NCAA Selection Committee’s Top-16 poll.

Honors were chosen by the league’s head coaches who were not allowed to vote for themselves or their own student-athletes. A tie resulted in an additional member on the All-Freshman team.

Forward of the Year: Trinity Byars, Texas
Midfielder of the Year: Lexi Missimo, Texas
Defender of the Year: Hannah Anderson, Texas Tech
Goalkeeper of the Year: Madison White, Texas Tech
Freshman of the Year: Sam Courtwright, Texas Tech
Coach of the Year: Tom Stone, Texas Tech*

All-Big 12 First Team
GK     Madison White, Texas Tech
D       Laveni Vaka, BYU
D       Hannah Anderson, Texas Tech
D       Macy Blackburn, Texas Tech
MF     Brecken Mozingo, BYU
MF     Gracie Brian, TCU
MF     Lexi Missimo, Texas*
MF     Sam Courtwright, Texas Tech
F        Seven Castain, TCU
F        Trinity Byars, Texas*
F        Ashleigh Williams, Texas Tech

All-Big 12 Second Team
GK     Mia Justus, Texas
D       Kendell Petersen, BYU
D       Grace Coppinger, TCU
D       Olivia Hasler, TCU
MF     Olivia Wade-Katoa, BYU
MF     Xcaret Pineda, Oklahoma State
MF     Oli Pena, TCU
F        Ellie Walbruch, BYU
F        Allie Fryer, BYU
F        Dayana Martin, UCF
F        Alex Kerr, Texas Tech

All-Big 12 Freshman Team
Callie Conrad, Baylor
Lynette Hernaez, BYU
Camryn Jorgensen, BYU
Jessica McCullen, UCF
Aryanna Jimison, Houston
Chloé Joseph, Oklahoma State
Laudan Wilson, Oklahoma State
Avery Clark, Texas
Carly Montgomery, Texas
Sam Courtwright, Texas Tech
Chloe Soto, Texas Tech
Jordyn Wilson, West Virginia

* unanimous selection