The Michigan State women’s soccer team’s players and coaches took home four of the six major Big Ten awards for best performances from their positions over the course of the regular season.
Those winners included senior Forward of the Year Lauren DeBeau, redshirt senior Goalkeeper of the Year Lauren Kozal, graduate student Defender of the Year Ruby Diodati and Head Coach of the Year Jeff Hosler.
DeBeau takes home the award after leading the Big Ten in goals with 10 as well as being second in goals per game with .59, points with 23 and points per game at 1.35.
Kozal was unanimously named the conference’s top goalie. She is the first unanimous selection of the award since its inception in 2011. Kozal topped the Big Ten in shoutouts (10), save percentage (.877) and goals-against average (.41).
Diodati, a Colgate transfer, is the first Spartan to receive the Big Ten’s top defensive award. She's been a force offensively too, notching seven assists on the season.
Hosler was named the conference’s Coach of the Year after leading MSU to its first undefeated Big Ten Championship season. He's the second MSU coach to win the honor following his predecessor Tom Saxton in 1994 and 2000.
All of the players listed above, along with junior midfielder Justina Gaynor, were also named to the All-Big Ten First Team.
Senior defender Raegan Cox was named to the All-Big Ten Second Team, freshman midfielder Emerson Sargeant made the conference’s Freshman Team and graduate student midfielder Abby Gardiner took home the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award to round out the haul by the Spartans.
Michigan State will take on Minnesota in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament Sunday at 4 p.m. at DeMartin Stadium. A win would advance MSU to the semi-finals, with the final two rounds of the tournament played in Columbus.
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