

COWGIRLS MAKE
A RUN TO THE
FINAL FOUR
It was another exciting fall for HSU
Athletics as the Cowgirl soccer team won
its 15th straight American Southwest
Conference title and advanced to the
NCAA Final Four. The Cowgirls lost
a heartbreaking 1-0 game to eventual
NCAA champion Williams College on a
goal in the final five minutes of the game.
The Cowgirls had an amazing journey to
the Final Four that started at HSU with a
3-1 win over Methodist in the first round
and an amazing comeback win over
Trinity in the second round. The Cowgirls
trailed 2-1 until Kenne Kessler '19 tied
the game with a goal with eight minutes
remaining. HSU won the game when
Evan Pipkin '18 scored the go-ahead goal
with just :48 remaining in the game.
The success also brought a slew of awards
for the Cowgirls. Kessler was named the
national forward of the year after leading
the Cowgirls to the Final Four. She set
the school record and is sixth all-time in
Division III history for goals in a single
season with 37. She also added 10 assists.
She was named the American Southwest
Conference player of the year. She was
also named anAcademic All-American by
CoSIDA and the United Soccer Coaches
and was first-team All-American by the
coaches. She was the CoSIDA Academic
Athlete of the Year and the distinguished
scholar-athlete for ASC women’s soccer.
Kirsten Parrish '18 led the Cowgirl
defense that has allowed just seven goals
this season. She has scored 14 goals and
has nine assists on the year as a major
weapon on corner kicks and set pieces.
She was the ASC defensive player of the
year for the second-straight year. She was
also named an Academic All-American
by CoSIDA and the United Soccer
Coaches and was first-teamAll-American
by the coaches.
Josey Meyer '19 was named an academic
all-American by CoSIDA, and goalkeeper
Caitlin Christiansen '19 was named
a scholar all-American by the United
Soccer Coaches. Christiansen, Kessler,
Parrish, Meyer and Kendall Groom '20
were named to the all-region team.
Kami Jones '18, who missed most of
the season with a knee injury but came
back for the postseason run, was named
the Elite 90 award winner that goes to
the person with top GPA at the NCAA
Championships for that sport.
ATHLETICS
34
RANGE RIDER | SPRING-SUMMER 2018