HAVERFORD, Pa. – After a strong season which has vaulted the Haverford College women's soccer team into the NCAA Division III Tournament, the Fords were well-represented on the All-Centennial Conference team which was announced by conference officials this week.
Haverford tied the school record with six different players recognized, matching the most in school history where the Fords also had that many All-CC picks during the 2004 and 2011 seasons. Leanne Ludwick and Kendra Griesman were both named first-team All-Centennial Conference performers, marking the 10th time in program history that two players earned first-team recognition. Lindsay Wytkind and Hannah Friedrich were second-team honorees while Celia Page and Emily Thissen were honorable mention selections to the squad. Ellie Burns was additionally recognized on the conference's all-sportsmanship team.
Kendra Griesman earned All-Centennial Conference accolades for the third time in her career with her first-ever first-team recognition. Earning all-conference in each of her healthy seasons, Griesman had a career year in the midfield. Starting all 18 matches, she scored five goals in Centennial Conference play and assisted on one other. Griesman tallied the game-winning goal to go along with an assist against Franklin & Marshall for her first career three-point match. She also scored the game-winning goal against McDaniel while finding the back of the net during wins against Muhlenberg, Ursinus, and Bryn Mawr. Griesman's five goals in CC play was a top-five mark in the conference.
Leanne Ludwick earned first-team All-Centennial Conference accolades after first receiving honorable mention accolades a season ago. One of the top point producers in the Centennial Conference all year long, Ludwick has tallied 12 goals and assisted on eight more to date. Her 30 points is the second-highest mark in the conference. Recording game-winning goals against Eastern, Widener, and Alvernia, the Fords' co-captain scored in nine different matches throughout the year and recorded a point in 11 of the 17 regular season matchups. Her goal and point totals are currently tied for the fifth-highest single-season marks in Haverford history. Ludwick was named the Centennial Conference Offensive Player of the Week following a four-point performance against Immaculata and three-point outing against Alvernia after recording a hat trick against Easter the week prior.
Lindsay Wytkind was named a second-team All-Centennial Conference performer to earn conference accolades for the second straight season after an honorable mention nod as a junior. A two-year team co-captain, Wytkind was recognized in back-to-back weeks as the Centennial Conference's Defensive Player of the Week to give her that award three times during her career. Wytkind earned her first honor of the year after helping the Fords shut down a previously undefeated Gettysburg side. The following week, she recorded a defensive save in a scoreless draw against Washington College and assisted on the game-winning goal against McDaniel. Haverford's defense recorded 10 shutouts throughout the regular season, just one shy of the school record.
Anchoring that defensive unit in goal, Hannah Friedrich was a second-team All-Centennial Conference performer for the first time in her career. Stepping into the role of full-time starter as a sophomore, Friedrich's 0.64 GAA and 12 victories ranked second in the Centennial Conference. She stopped 83.3% of the shots on goal that she faced, making a total of 55 saves. Friedrich played the full time in eight of the team's shutouts while getting the start and splitting time in goal during those two other clean sheets. Friedrich was named the Centennial Conference Defensive Player of the Week after recording four saves in shutout against Lebanon Valley and has made five or more saves in five different matches throughout the 2019 season.
The final member of that defensive unit to be recognized with junior co-captain Emily Thissen. Thissen's honorable mention selection was the first of her career. Thissen earned Centennial Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors following shutout victories against Eastern and Widener where the Haverford backline allowed just three shots on goal against the Eagles and just one single shot attempt against Widener. The Fords shut out five of their 10 conference opponents throughout the regular season and posted the second-best GAA (0.65) among their conference peers.
Celia Page was recognized for her breakthrough rookie campaign with honorable mention accolades. Page became the first women's soccer first-year at Haverford since 2005 to record at least 10 goals in a season as she supplemented that total with four more assists. Page scored half of her goals in Centennial Conference matches which tied Griesman for a top-five mark. Her first career goal was the game-winning effort against Lebanon Valley and jumpstarted a streak in which she scored a goal in four straight matches and seven of nine overall. That goal outburst came in the midst of the Fords' program-record eight-match unbeaten streak and 13-match unbeaten stretch. Page had a career day against Immaculata with two goals and two assists and later added another multi-goal performance against Bryn Mawr.
The Fords have gone 12-4-2 (6-2-2 CC) heading into this weekend's NCAA Tournament. That record helped Haverford earn the third seed in the conference tournament. Although defeated by a 1-0 score in the conference semifinals, Haverford's resume was deemed to have warranted an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Women's soccer will make its fourth appearance in the NCAA Tournament (and first since 2013) this Saturday when the Fords play Randolph-Macon at Messiah. That match is set for a 1:30 p.m. start.