Women's Soccer Celebrates Season at Annual Banquet

Feb. 15, 2005

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Santa Clara University women's soccer program held its annual awards banquet Saturday night at the Adobe Lodge on campus and recognized a number of outstanding team and individual performances that contributed to the team's success in 2004.

More than 100 friends, family and soccer community members joined the Bronco student-athletes and coaches in a four-hour celebration of the fall season. Senior Leslie Osborne was voted by her teammates as Player of the Year for the second consecutive season, and also received Most Inspirational. Fellow All-Americans Megan Kakadelas and Julie Ryder were named the Most Valuable Player for Offense and Defensive, respectively. Bree Horvath became the first two-time recipient of the Coaches Award and Jordan Angeli was named the squad's Rookie of the Year. The Most Improved Player honor was presented to Elyse Shelger.

Individual honors were also celebrated, including awards from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, Soccer Buzz and Soccer America magazines, and the West Coast Conference, among many others.

As a team, the Broncos advanced to the program's 10th College Cup, and won its fourth straight conference title. Santa Clara won 18 games, including a historic victory over North Carolina in the third round of the NCAA Tournament. Osborne received the Honda Award as the nation's player of the year and Kakadelas was recognized as the NSCAA/adidas Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

The evening included an appetizer and cocktail hour, as well as dinner. The underclassmen took a moment to honor the senior class of Lana Bowen, Bree Horvath, Kakadelas, Osborne, Alyssa Sobolik and Monika Sola.

The senior class.

"The evening was a wonderful celebration of a wonderful season, and more importantly, a wonderful group of players and their parents," head coach Jerry Smith said. "The highlight of the evening once again was the recognition of our outstanding seniors. We had an opportunity to reminisce about their many contributions during their collegiate careers, which include the highest winning percentage in the country in the NCAA tournament over the last four years, three trips to the College Cup, two NCAA Finals and one National Championship."

The coaches were also presented with gifts by the student-athletes, including an additional roast to associate head coach Mike Smith, who has recently accepted a similar position at the University of Oregon.

A highlight film chronicling the team's season was also shown. Lisa Smyth, a cousin of former Bronco Kristi Candau, has been kind enough to share photos of the event. Please click here to view her personal photo gallery.