GRANTHAM, Pa. - On Tuesday morning,
Brooke Firestone,
Sunny Gelnovatch,
Lydia Ewing, and
Barb Foster were named All-Americans by D3Soccer.com. Additionally, head
Scott Frey was honored as the National Coach of the Year and Firestone was named the Forward of the Year after scoring 19 goals.
Firestone and Gelnovatch were named to the First Team, while Ewing was the Second Team goalkeeper, and Foster claimed Third Team laurels.
The D3Soccer.com honors comes on the heels of Firestone and Gelnovatch being named First Team All-Americans by the United Soccer Coaches.
After being named a Third Team All-American by D3Soccer.com last season, Firestone was honored as the Forward of the Year by the outlet, becoming the second Falcon to be named the Forward of the Year by D3Soccer.com (
Nikki Elsaesser in 2015). Firestone was named First Team All-MAC Commonwealth for the third time in her career and also repeated as the conference's Offensive Player of the Year. She led both the Falcons and the conference with 19 goals, 99 shots, 44 points, and 8 game-winning goals.
Joining Firestone on the First Team was classmate
Sunny Gelnovatch in the midfield. Gelnovatch finished her senior campaign with six goals and eight assists for 20 points from the midfield. This season Gelnovatch picked up her third-straight First Team All-Region nod as well as her first, First Team All-American honor by the United Soccer Coaches. Gelnovatch was previously named a Second Team D3Soccer.com All-American during her sophomore season of 2017.
Barb Foster capped off her career with her first-ever All-American honor, being named Third Team on Tuesday. The senior defender was named First Team All-Conference in each of the last three seasons and was celebrated on the United Soccer Coaches All-Region team during her junior season. A key piece of Messiah's defense during her three seasons in Grantham, Foster appeared in 71 games on a defensive line that allowed just 18 goals across those 71 games.
Between the pipes,
Lydia Ewing was selected as a Second Team All-American by D3Soccer.com. After taking the starting job back this season, Ewing logged 2088 minutes in goal on Messiah's National Championship run. Ewing held a 0.34 goals against average, making 61 saves for an 0.884 save percentage. Her biggest moments of the season included back-to-back penalty kick shootout victories in the Elite Eight and Final Four. Against Carnegie Mellon in the National Semifinal, Ewing faced four shots and made three saves during the shootout to advance Messiah to the Championship Game.
Head coach
Scott Frey picks up his second D3Soccer.com National Coach of the Year honor following a stellar season on the sidelines with the Falcons. In his 20th season at the helm of the women's soccer team, Frey led the Falcons to an overall record of 22-1-3 as Messiah claimed their sixth National Championship in program history (2005, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2019). Frey was also named the National Coach of the Year by D3Soccer.com in 2011.
