HIGHEST COLLEGIATE SOCCER ACCOLADE TARGETS OVER 20 WPSL PLAYERS FROM RECENTS SEASONS WITH HONOR

Eight Players from 2024 Season Named in MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List

 

 

Andrew Mosier, WPSL Communications

 

 

 

 

 

Eight collegiate players who featured in the 2024 WPSL season were named to the 2024 Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy watch list at the start of the college season in August:

 

Bre Norris - GK - Portland Thorns II

Lindsey Heckel - DEF - Lou Fusz Athletic

Lilly Reale - DEF - Beach Futbol Club
Taylor Huff - MID -  Ambassadors Cleveland

Avery Murdzek - MID - St. Croix Legacy
Jordynn Dudley - FOR - UFA Gunners
Emily Gaebe - FOR - Lou Fusz Athletic
Giana Riley - FOR - California Storm

 

Fifteen additional former WPSL players, who played between the 2023 and 2021 seasons, were named to the list.
 

Each year, the MAC Hermann Trophy is awarded to the top male and female college soccer players. Former WPSL Hermann Trophy winners include two-time winners Jaelin Howell (Motor City FC), Catarina Macario (San Diego SeaLions).
 

The watch list is compiled by members of the Division I Women’s All-American Council from a list of All-American and First Team All-Region players in 2023. The list of 44 initial candidates will be pared down to 15 semifinalists to be announced December 4, with the winner announced January 3, 2025, at the historic Missouri Athletic Club in downtown St. Louis, Mo.
 

As the NCAA Tournament kicks off for Division I across the country, here is how each of the eight Hermann Trophy contenders who played in the WPSL in 2024 are faring. 

 

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Bre Norris

Goalkeeper

University of Portland (Portland Thorns II)

Senior

 

Picking up where she left off last year to earn All-West Coast Conference Goalkeeper of the Year, All-WCC First Team honors, and the first Pilot goalkeeper to earn All-West Region honors since 1997, Norris started all 19 of Portand’s matches this season, averaging .91 goals against and earning six clean sheets as the Pilots finished 9-6-5 this season.
 

Norris spent the summer of 2024 as part of the Portland Thorns II side that went 4-2-2 in its debut WPSL season, finishing second in the Northwest Conference. 

 

 

Lindsey Heckel

Defender

Saint Louis University (Lou Fusz Athletic)

Graduate Student

 

Anchoring the backline for the Billikens’ in its run to the Atlantic 10 Conference championship, Heckel started all 21 of Saint Louis’ matches through conference tournament play, scoring six goals and picking up one assist, including a goal in the Billikens' 3-1 win over Massachusetts in the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament championship. 
 

Heckel earned Atlantic 10 Championship Most Outstanding Player plaudits this season; Atlantic 10 Conference Defensive Player of the Year for a second consecutive year, and spots on the All-Atlantic 10 First Team for all five of her collegiate seasons. Heckel is the first Billiken to be named All-American in the 28-year history of the program, earning honors in 2022 and 2023. 
 

Heckel had a goal and an assist in three WPSL appearances over the summer, helping the Lou Fusz Athletic to a 5-1-4 record in its second WPSL season. 
 

The 21st-ranked Billikens host No. 27 Kansas in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday.

 

 

Lilly Reale

Defender

UCLA (Beach Futbol Club)

Senior

 

A Hermann Trophy Semifinalist and First-Team All-American in 2023, the center back started 21 games, tallying one goal and two assists, in her senior season as the No. 9 Bruins (16-3-3, 8-2-1 BIG 10) won its first BIG 10 title after earning three shutout wins.
 

Reale’s Beach Futbol Club finished atop the So Cal Conference Coastal Division, going 5-2-1 on the season. 
 

Reale and the Bruins open the NCAA Tournament Friday hosting Western Athletic Conference Tournament winners, California Baptist University. 

 

 

Taylor Huff

Midfielder

Florida State University (Ambassadors Cleveland)

Senior
 

 

In her second season in Tallahassee, after two seasons at the University of Tennessee, Huff has helped the Seminoles become the fourth highest scoring team in the country to finish the 2024 conference play, averaging 3.11 goals per game. From her spot in the central midfield, Huff contributed 12 goals and nine assists, which included a hat trick versus North Florida that earned her ACC Offensive Player of the Week honor. Huff also scored in both the ACC Tournament semifinals and finals to help FSU to its fifth consecutive ACC Championship and 11th all-time. 
 

The reigning NCAA champs, which played much of the season short handed due to international call-ups, enter the NCAA Tournament first round hosting Southern Conference champions, Samford.   
 

Huff led the unbeaten Ambassadors Cleveland to a 7-1-0 record and back-to-back regular season titles. She finished second in the Great Lakes Conference’s Great River Division in scoring with six goals, tallying four assists over six games and earning Great River’s Player of the Year honors for a second consecutive season, along with East Region Player of the Week honors for her three-goal performance in Week 8. 

 

 

Avery Murdzek

Midfielder

South Dakota State University (St. Croix Legacy)

Senior

 

Starting in every match this season, Murdzek propelled the Jackrabbits (15-2-4, 5-1-2 Summit League) to the Summit League championship for a second consecutive and eight overall. The Human Biology major tallied one goal and three assists on the season, after posting a career-high eight goals and five assists in 2023, earning her Summit League Midfielder of the Year honors, along with All-Summit League First Team and All-West Region First Team.
 

South Dakota State travels to Minneapolis to face the University of Minnesota in the opening round of the 2025 NCAA Division I Tournament. 
 

Murdzek’s two goals and two assists helped St. Croix Legacy to a very respectable 5-1-3 record in the Northern Conference—arguably the most competitive in the WPSL, which included WPSL Golden Boot Winner, Kayah Harper, who will line up for Minnesota against Mirdzek on Friday.  

 

 

Jordynn Dudley

Forward

Florida State University (UFA Gunners)

Sophomore

 

One of the top young goal scorers in the country, a call-up to the U.S. Women’s Under-20 World Cup squad limited her time with the Seminoles. Despite seeing only 847 minutes over 13 appearances (11 starts), Dudley tallied six goals and nine assists, posting a goal and an assist in two games before leaving the squad for national duty in Colombia, where her late-game heroics propelled the USWNT U-20 to a third-place finish. 
 

After starting in the opening 1-0 loss to Spain, Dudley’s next appearance came as a substitute in the 86th minute versus Mexico in the Round of 16, bagging the game winner two minutes into extra time to put the U.S. through to the quarterfinals versus Germany. Entering just after the hour mark versus Germany, Dudley tallied her second goal of the tournament in the eight minute of added time to pull the U.S. back a goal. A second U.S. goal less than a minute later sent the game to a scoreless extra time and then penalty kicks, push the U.S. through to the semifinals versus North Korea. Unable to replicate her heroics against the eventual winners, Dudley gave way just before the hour mark, making a second half cameo in the U.S.’ 2-1 extra time win over Netherlands in the third-place match. 
 

On National Team duty for much of the summer, Dudley contributed five goals and an assist in limited action for the 5-2-1 UFA Gunners, earning All-Southeast Conference honors. 
 

With the reigning NCAA champs now at full strength, the Seminoles won its fifth consecutive ACC Tournament championship and 11th all-time, entering the NCAA Tournament first round hosting Southern Conference champions, Samford. 

 

 

Emily Gaebe

Forward

Saint Louis University (Lou Fusz Athletic)

Senior
 

 

With 15 goals and four assists in 20 appearances (all starts), Emily Gaebe is picking up where she left off in 2023 when she was a MAC Hermann Trophy semifinalist. Gaebe has since earned Atlantic 10 Offensive Player of the Week honors three times in 2024 and scored her first collegiate career hat trick in the Billikens’ 5-0 win over Duquesne, breaking SLU’s record for career goals in the process. Her record-breaking tally now stands at 47 collegiate career goals, earning her Atlantic 10 Offensive Player of the Year honors. 
 

Over the summer, Gaebe tallied a team-high six goals for Lou Fusz Athletic in the Midwest Conference Gateway Division. 
 

The top seed entering the Atlantic 10 tournament, Gaebe scored the second goal in the Billikens' 2-0 win over Saint Joseph’s in the semifinal, and bookended the scoring in the Billikens' 3-1 championship win over Massachusetts. 
 

Finishing 14-6-1 over-all, the Billikens host Kansas in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday. 

 

Giana Riley

Forward

Florida State University (California Storm)

Junior

 

The Seminole faithful got just a taste of what Gina Riley, a transfer from Gonzaga where she banged in 17 goals in two seasons, is when she started and scored in her Florida State debut, a 5-0 win at South Florida. Riley went on to tally an assist three days later in a cameo in FSU’s win over North Florida before she left for the Under-20 World Cup in Colombia. One of four Florida State players on the U.S. Women’s Roster, Riley made four late-game appearances: versus Morocco and Paraguay in group play wins, in the penalty kick win over Germany in the quarterfinals, and in the 2-1 win over Netherlands for third place. 
 

With a World Cup third-place medal in hand, Riley returned to the Seminole lineup September 28, coming off the bench to ink her name on the score sheet in back-to-back games versus Virginia and Pittsburgh to bring her goal total to three for the season. 
 

Though World Cup preparations limited her time, Riley was part of the California Storm’s run to its record fifth WPSL Championship, appearing in three regular season games and posting an assist in the Storm’s 1-1 Week 9 draw at FC Davis.