All-Pac-12 Women’s Soccer Teams and awards announced for 2022 season

SAN FRANCISCO – The Pac-12 Conference announced the All-Pac-12 Women’s Soccer honors for the 2022 season, as voted on by the league’s 12 coaches.

UCLA, the No. 1 team in the country for nine consecutive weeks, captured two major awards, with Lilly Reale being selected as the Defender of the Year and first-year head coach Margueritte Aozasa being named Coach of the Year. USC’s Croix Bethune was named Midfielder of the Year for the second consecutive season, while Arizona State’s Nicole Douglas was named Forward of the Year. Oregon’s Leah Freeman earned Goalkeeper of the Year honors and Pac-12 champion Stanford had Elise Evans selected Freshman of the Year to round out the individual postseason honors. In addition, the All-Pac-12 and All-Freshman teams were announced.

PAC-12 FORWARD OF THE YEAR – Nicole Douglas, Gr., Arizona State (London, England)

Fifth-year senior Nicole Douglas becomes the first Sun Devil to receive the Pac-12 Forward of the Year honor. Douglas was one of the top attackers in the country in 2022, finishing the regular season with 14 goals and 31 points, which ranked first in the league and top-10 in the nation in both categories. Of her 14 goals, 11 were scored in just four matches, including a four-goal run against Oregon, giving her the most single-game goals of a Pac-12 player since 2019 and tied for the second most single-game goals of any Power 5 player this season. At the finish of the regular season, she sits at the top of the Arizona State record book in career goals (60), assists (141) and game-winning goals (18) and is third in career assists (21).

PAC-12 MIDFIELDER OF THE YEAR – Croix Bethune, Sr., USC (Alpharetta, Ga.)

Now a two-time Pac-12 Midfielder of the Year, Croix Bethune becomes the first Pac-12 player to earn the honor twice since the award’s inception in 2017. Bethune paced the 2022 Trojan offense, banking eight goals, nine assists, 25 points and four game-winning goals. In just three years at USC, her offensive numbers are good for a top-10 ranking in program history in goals (26), assists (23) and points (75). Bethune entered the season as Top Drawer Soccer’s No. 1 player in the country and went on to earn two team of the week honors. Her performance, alongside her team, helped the Trojans extend their ninth consecutive NCAA Tournament berth.

PAC-12 DEFENDER OF THE YEAR – Lilly Reale, So., UCLA (Hingham, Mass.) 

UCLA’s Lilly Reale earns Defender of the Year honors after being a leading force on a Bruin defense that went 13-0 to start the season and only surrended nine goals all year. In her second season at UCLA, she anchored one of the top defenses in the country as the Bruins limited opponents to 132 shots total and only 65 on goal. In a match against Washington State, she scored the game-winning goal and helped the Bruins improve their shutout total to 11 in 2022.

PAC-12 GOALKEEPER OF THE YEAR – Leah Freeman, Jr., Oregon (Berkeley, Calif.)

Oregon keeper Leah Freeman is Oregon’s first player of the year recipient after being selected as the 2022 Goalkeeper of the Year. Starting in 17 of the Ducks’ 20 matches, Freeman played a total of 1,468 minutes and collected 114 saves, which was good for first in the Conference and eighth in the country. Her .826 save percentage was third in the Pac-12, while her nine saves per game ranked ninth in the nation. Freeman also broke Oregon’s all-time shutout record (18) as well as entered the top-10 in single-season saves and career saves (253).

PAC-12 FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR – Elise Evans, Fr., Stanford (Redwood City, Calif.)

Stanford defender Elise Evans is the first Cardinal since 2017 to be named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year (Catarina Macario). In her first year on The Farm, Evans garnered two Pac-12 Weekly awards, two Top Drawer Soccer Team of the Week honors, one College Soccer News Team of the Week honor and a Soccer America 3 Stars of the Week honor, making her the most decorated freshman in the conference. Evans was responsible for handing No. 1 UCLA its first loss and shutout of the season, scoring the game-winner and assisting the defense in keeping the Bruin offense scoreless. All three of her 2022 goals were game winners, which was the most of any freshman and ranked fifth overall in the Pac-12 in 2022.

PAC-12 COACH OF THE YEAR – Margueritte Aozasa, UCLA

UCLA’s Margueritte Aozasa is the third Bruin coach to earn the Pac-12 Coach of the Year award after leading UCLA to its best start in program history (13-0), its highest winning percentage (.895) and a nine-week run at No. 1 in the country. While leading a team that only lost two matches throughout the regular season (Stanford, USC), Aozasa coached nine Pac-12 weekly award honorees, 11 All-Pac-12 honorees, and guided the Bruins to their seventh consecutive NCAA Tournament bid and a No. 1 seed for the first time since 2014.

FIRST TEAM

SECOND TEAM

THIRD TEAM

ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM