Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Five MacEwan Griffins women's soccer student-athletes cracked the Canada West first all-star, second all-star and all-rookie teams, the conference announced Thursday.
Grace Mwasalla, Maya Morrell and Anneke Odinga were named to the Canada West first all-star team, Kiann Bohnert earned a spot on both the second all-star team and all-rookie squad, and Amelia Russo was named to the conference's all-rookie team.
The number of all-stars/rookies matches the program record set in 2019 when the Griffins also received six. Additionally, it's the second time the Griffins have had three first team all-stars in a single season, also matching 2019.
"I'm super proud of what all of them were able to accomplish individually and what we were able to accomplish as a team," said head coach Dean Cordeiro. "A lot of these individual awards come from team success and that's very evident this year with us breaking some records – most goals for and conference-leading 46 (tied with UBC for first). That was nice to see a lot more output than in previous years.
"Also, on the other side of that, we tied for the second-best goals against in the conference (11) as well and saw so many strong defensive performances from a lot of our players back there."
Mwasalla led the conference with 15 goals in 14 games – quite simply the most dominant single season in MacEwan women's soccer history.
"It was truly special," said Cordeiro of Mwasalla who was just two goals shy of the Canada West record of 17. "The crazy thing about Grace's 15 goals is they were all in the run of play. None of them came from the penalty mark. The top goal scorers will usually also score a few PKs. They all count, but it's incredible to score 15 goals in the run of play. Grace stepped up.
"When we needed a goal, we knew she would come in clutch and find the back of the net. She is such an inspirational leader out there and it's amazing to see her perform like this in just her second season. She's just getting started. We're really looking forward to a lot of records being broken over the next few years with her in our lineup."
Mwasalla not only set a new MacEwan single season goals record, shattering the old mark of eight (Suekiana Choucair in 2016), she also set a new standard for points with 17, passing the old mark of 13 (Choucair in 2019).
Morrell had an incredible season in her own right, finishing with eight goals and 11 points in 14 games.
"M&M, as we like to call her, has really come into her own here," said Cordeiro. "She's been an important player for us over her career at MacEwan. She's elevated her game and helped this team to reach another level this year. In the last weekend of games, she had four goals, two braces in each of those two games.
"We asked her to play a different role for us this year, playing in our midfield," he added. "To have that production from an attacking midfield player really changed the complexion of our team. I am super proud of Maya and her journey as a Griffin."
Odinga was in the running for MacEwan's player of the game honour in almost every match this season. She managed five assists in 14 games with an ability to spark MacEwan's attack from the fullback position.
"Her ability to cover ground and skip by players on the dribble is not anything I've seen before at this level and she's just in her second year," said Cordeiro. "It's crazy to think she's just getting started. She is scratching at the surface of her potential and has three more years to go. Sometimes as a defender, you don't get the love and recognition you deserve because you're doing the heavy lifting trying to keep the opposing teams off the scoresheet and also driving play. Anneke was able to do both at an elite level."
Bohnert is one of the most remarkable stories in the country. Thought to possibly be the youngest to ever play women's soccer at the U SPORTS level, she not only started 14 games in the demanding centre-back position, but she also didn't allow a single goal from her area on the pitch and ended up leading the Griffins in minutes. She also added offence, scoring two goals.
"Being 16 years old and playing at the university level, that's hard enough, let alone being a pillar for us in the back," said Cordeiro. "She formed just an amazing partnership with Abbey Wright. Having that senior player mentoring her did wonders for her game. She was so reliable defensively and was very effective in our attacking phases and building up out of the back.
"As a staff, we didn't know it would get to this level, because you're always cautious when you have such a young talented student-athlete and being able to balance everything she needed to balance," he added. "It was a treat to watch her. To be able to accomplish the type of season she had as a first year, it's really exciting what the future holds."
And for the first time in program history, the Griffins had two players on the Canada West all-rookie team. Russo played in 13 of 14 games for the team, starting three and showed great potential, particularly on the defensive end.
"Amelia Russo's a special talent and just had a couple veteran players in front of her," noted Cordeiro. "Playing more of a defensive role, whether it be at holding mid or centre-back, you don't often get enough love or recognition because you're not putting up big scorelines or filling the stats sheet. What she was able to do was be a dependable defensive workhorse for us whenever she went onto the field of play to see games out.
"She's got an extremely bright future where she will be in a more advanced position up the field and will contribute more offensively. You saw moments of that occurring throughout the year and was a little unlucky not to score her first career goal because she came close a couple of times. I'm super proud of her."
Cordeiro summed up the honours by noting that team success from many other players helped push his all-stars to another level.
"I'm so happy for the team as a collective and it's nice to see individuals get recognition," said Cordeiro. "I'm proud of all their efforts and proud of the efforts of this team."
