MNU All-Decade Team: Women's Soccer

All-Decade: Volleyball, Football, Men's Soccer, Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball, Softball, Baseball

The 2010s were a great decade for MNU Athletics. Every program qualified for the national tournament at least twice, Cross Country and Track & Field made their returns and had great success, 2 teams played for the National Championship, and Women's Basketball won it all in 2016. With all the great athletes to come through Olathe in the last 10 years, it's difficult to nail down All-Decade teams. But I'm going to give it a shot. Your Sports Information Director, Chad Jenkins, along with a handful of coaches and fans, will publish an All-Decade team for our team sports starting with the Spring of 2010.

The Process
There's no one way to do this, but here's how I'm going to do it:
- One player from a specific season will represent one starting position on the court/field. One great season by one player trumps a solid career from another.
- Academics, behavior, and likability are not going to be considered. I can't know enough about the personal lives of these athletes to make that judgment. I'm putting together the best players at each position, period.
- I've asked for input from some coaches and fans, but ultimately the final decision is mine. So direct your hateful e-mails to yours truly.
- For Women's Soccer, we are using 11 positions: 1 goalkeeper, 4 defenders, 3 midfielders, and 3 forwards.

Why Are We Doing This?
Because it's fun. If you or your relative or buddy didn't make the squad, it's not personal.

Who Are You to Make These Decisions?
A fair question. I'm the guy who has watched pretty much every home event in every sport since the Fall of 2007, and I'm in control of the athletics website.

Enough! Just Get Started!
Agreed. Here we go...

Goalkeeper
Choosing a Keeper for the Women's Soccer All-Decade team is among the toughest choices in this entire process. Generally, even a great keeper won't have great stats if the team is strong. A great set of defenders will prevent quality shots and limit the opportunities for saves, and a weaker team will ultimately allow more goals despite a great keeper's best efforts. Intangibles like leadership, work ethic, and character go unseen from a relatively distant observer like myself, so trust me when I say that my choice for this position didn't come easily. Becca Skillman earned a National Defensive Player of the Week honor along with an All-Conference nod in her great career. Anesa Curic led the best team in program history in 2018, earned a National Defensive Player of the Week in 2015, and was a 3-time All-Conference performer. If this were about the whole career, she'd be the obvious choice. But if I'm going for a specific season, I have to choose Kailee Barnhard in 2019 as the MNU Women's Soccer All-Decade Goalkeeper. Call it recency bias if you must, but she was a 4-time Conference Defensive Player of the Week and a National Defensive Player of the Week for a team which reached Nationals for the second time in program history. Most saves recorded by keepers aren't noteworthy, but Barnhard had several game-saving or game-changing saves this year that couldn't have been made by just any keeper. Curic was a big part of the teams that turned the program around, and this is a really tough call, but I'm going with Barnhard.

Defenders
Despite my limited soccer experience (I peaked in 8th grade), I love watching soccer defenders. It was the position I played and I like to think I can see what the elite defenders are thinking when faced with tough decisions. Several times each match, they need to decide whether to lay back, attack, clear out of bounds, clear upfield, or even commit a strong foul to prevent scoring opportunities. The Pioneers have had plenty of excellent backs in the last 10 years, but the four following players made their mark and stood out as MNU Women's Soccer All-Decade Defenders: Kara Quinn in 2013, Sarah Schmidt in 2015 or 2016, Jessica Longhurst in 2018, and Rachel Slack in 2019.
- In 2013, Kara Quinn led a 12-win team and even recorded 3 goals and 4 assists as she was named 1st team All-Conference. She was also named 1st team CoSIDA Academic All-America, which is an almost impossible award to win for a women's soccer defender. It's an award which I vote for as a member of CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America), and it takes into account both academics and athletic performance. There are plenty of women's soccer defenders with 4.0 GPAs, and stats are hard to accumulate so for her to stand out was an incredible accomplishment.
- Sarah Schmidt, in both 2015 and 2016, was named 1st team All-Conference and Honorable Mention All-America. The 2016 squad reached Nationals for the first time in program history, and her leadership and skill was a huge reason why. She never seemed to make the incorrect decision, she recorded 5 assists, and she raised the level of everyone around her.
- The best team in program history (in my reasonably humble opinion) was the 2018 team, and Jessica Longhurst anchored an excellent defense. Like all elite defenders, she never seemed to panic during scoring opportunities while dominating the forwards who came near. She was named 1st team All-Conference and scored a pair of goals.
- Rachel Slack's 2019 season was among my favorites to watch, not only as someone who roots for the success of the teams I'm paid to cover, but as a fan in general. The team qualified for Nationals for the second time in program history, and Slack was named 1st team All-Conference while scoring 3 goals. Unlike the others on this list, Slack played more of a defensive midfield and was often mixed up in the action where teams originally create scoring chances. The decisions presented to defenders are listed above, and it was fun to watch Slack often choose the fouling option. She earned 4 yellow cards for her efforts, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Forwards and midfielders would challenger her to their own detriment (and pain), and would often shy away from subsequent encounters.

Midfielders
Having a good crew of midfielders almost guarantees a good season. From winning long passes, setting up scoring chances, and preventing scoring chances, the midfielders have to be the entire package. MNU has had some greats. Rebecca McAndrew controlled the middle early in the decade. Gabby Rodriguez, Ellaisa "Boxy" Marquis, Kara Collins, and Misty Olsen were All-Conference middles as the program grew closer to national prominence. Kelli Reid had 3 All-Conference seasons and led the team with 9 assists in 2015 as a hybrid defender/midfielder. I have to mention Elvia Villagomez's 2018 season, where she established herself as the best corner kicker I've ever seen, period. And Brylee Johnson was excellent in the middle in 2019 as a 2nd team All-Conference performer for the highest-ranked team in program history. But we only get to choose 3 middles, and we're going with Steffi Krohn in 2017, Savannah Moxley in 2019, and Alanna Castaneda in 2018.
- In 2017, Steffi Krohn became the first MNU midfielder with an Honorable Mention All-America honor as she had 5 goals and led the team with 7 assists in her only season as a center back. She earned 1st team All-Conference and shined on a team which was the building block for the best run in program history.
- Savannah Moxley is a hybrid player whose versatility could've landed her on the All-Decade team as a Forward or a Midfielder. In 2018, as mostly a forward, she recorded 15 goals and 9 assists on the best MNU team I've seen. In 2019, she led the team to their second bid to Nationals in program history while being used more as an all-around threat. When the Pioneers had late leads, she'd slide into more of a defensive mode to thwart pressing opponents. An ever-present threat in the box, she dominates 50/50 headers and teams can't afford to lose her. Even when teams try to rough her up and knock her around, her toughness is evident and she bounces back from every shot she takes. She was named 1st team All-Conference, Honorable Mention All-America, and 2nd team CoSIDA Academic All-America. I'm just gonna say it...she's probably my favorite player.
- Alanna Castaneda's 2018 season was her only as a Pioneer, and her impact was clear. The team started 11-0-1 before finally taking a loss, she had 5 goals and 3 assists while dominating the middle of the field, and the Pioneers stood poised to win their first conference title with a win or a tie in the season's final regular season game. An injury injury prevented Castaneda from playing in that game, and the Pioneers trailed 3-0 before they could blink. All 3 goals seemed to come from the area she usually patrolled, and you have to think her presence would've altered those opportunities. The best team in program history fell in the conference semis as she watched from the sideline, and MNU was denied a spot at Nationals. She was named 1st team All-Conference and Honorable Mention All-America, and her one great season earned her an easy spot on the All-Decade team.

Forwards
The impact of the forward position is obvious. They handle most of the scoring load and need a skill set which includes speed and toughness. Alyssa Howard (who would be an easy choice for a 2000s All-Decade Team) capped her career with an All-Conference honor in 2010. Kalyn Pfaff had 3 big seasons in the middle of the decade and was a constant threat as the program progressed. But the 3 players named MNU Women's Soccer All-Decade Forwards are Taryn McClendon in 2016, Hannah Benedict in 2018, and Maria Garcia in 2018.
- Taryn McClendon was a transformational type player as the program rose to national prominence. She was an Honorable Mention All-American in 2015 and 2016 (joining Sarah Schmidt as the program's first honorees), earning 1st team All-Conference both seasons. She seemed to play at a different speed than everyone else, and opponents were forced to key on her. She led the 2016 squad to the the program's first bid to Nationals, and leads a great corps of forwards on the All-Decade Team.
- Our next two forwards come from the program's most talented team in 2018. Hannah Benedict was Honorable Mention All-America as she had 14 goals and 7 assists as a 2nd team All-Conference performer. Her speed and smarts simply overwhelmed defenders during her entire career, and despite missing 2017 with an injury, she came back with a great 2018 to earn a spot on the All-Decade team.
- Maria Garcia's 2018 season earned her a Conference Freshman of the Year honor along with 2 Conference Player of the Week nods and a National Player of the Week selection. She scored 15 goals and dished out 10 assists. Her positioning skills and power in the box are unmatched and she's a phenomenal finisher in the area.

Your MNU Women's Soccer All-Decade Team:
Goalkeeper: Kailee Barnhard 2019
Defender: Kara (Quinn) Lindenmeyer 2013
Defender: Sarah (Schmidt) Hamilton 2016
Defender: Jessica Longhurst 2018
Defender: Rachel Slack 2019
Midfielder: Steffi Krohn 2017
Midfielder: Alanna Castaneda 2018
Midfielder: Savannah (Moxley) Bussmann 2019
Forward: Taryn McClendon 2016
Forward: Hannah Benedict 2018
Forward: Maria Garcia 2019