Herrity, Ness garner D2CCA All-Southeast Region accolades

Posted: Nov 30, 2015

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – Carson-Newman junior forward Julianne Herrity (Donegal, Ireland) and freshman midfielder Varin Ness (Sogndal, Norway) were named members of the Division II Conference Commissioners Association All-Southeast Region teams on Monday.

Herrity was named to the D2CCA's first team while Ness garnered second team accolades. The pairing also swept the South Atlantic Conference's awards for Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year and helped guide the Eagles to their first regular season conference title and SAC Championship since 2009.

The duo became the program's first two All-Region team members since 2010 when Morgan Gruenfelder, Trenna Howell and Andrea Saevik were granted the honors.

"After the season we had, it's nice to get accolades at the end," Herrity said of the honor. "It's been great for both of us, but obviously, as a team, to score the goals, it starts in either the back line or the midfield and Heida (Ragney) has had seven or eight assists, Varin has had a couple and Nikki (McWilliams) has been scoring goals. It's really been a team effort."

Herrity's first season at Mossy Creek included 16 goals and four assists in 19 starts and she became Carson-Newman's first SAC Player of the Year since 2006. The junior finished led the team in goals scored, tied for second in the league with her 16 scores and tied for 10^th with four assists; her 16 goals are tied for the 17^th in the nation. She registered 93 shots, which was the most in the SAC. Herrity recorded four multi-goal performances, which three happened against SAC opponents. She ranked seventh in the nation with seven game-winning goals, including scores against Lenoir-Rhyne and Young Harris in double-overtime. Herrity scored multi-goal games against Newberry, Catawba, Young Harris and Coker.

In the SAC Women's Soccer Championship against Wingate, Herrity assisted on the game-winning goal; she scored the game-winning goal against Anderson (S.C.) in the SAC Tournament semifinals in the 81^st-minute off a corner kick. In the NCAA Tournament, she scored against Armstrong State and helped the Eagles clinch a spot in the Southeast regional final for the first time since 2009. The Donegal, Ireland-native also named the SAC's Player of the Week three times and was named to the league's first team.

Ness was awarded the SAC's Freshman of the Year after a season that included 12 goals and five assists 19 appearances. She registered at least one point in her first four matches in her career and scored in her first appearance in the Orange and Blue against Ohio Dominican. She set the school record for goals by a freshman in the season.

Ness scored the game-winning goal against Lincoln Memorial in the SAC Tournament quarterfinals in the 59^th-minute off a free kick when the Eagles were playing a player down. The Sogndal, Norway-native registered multi-goal games against Mars Hill and Lees-McRae.

Carson-Newman placed the third-most players on the All-Southeast region teams in the SAC with two representatives; second-place regular season finisher and SAC Tournament runner-up Wingate and Lenoir-Rhyne, who finished fourth in league play, were each represented by three players.

The Division II Conference Commissioners Association encourages and promotes Division II athletics and high standards of sportsmanship as important elements of higher education. The CCA is a key communications link among the conferences as they discuss views, policies and regulations that impact Division II intercollegiate athletics and works closely with the NCAA as a communications channel to NCAA Division II member colleges and universities.

2015 D2CCA ALL-SOUTHEAST REGION TEAM

First-Team

Pos. Name School Yr. Hometown

GK Maylyn Parsons# Columbus State Jr. Greenville, S.C.

D Shelby Rolling#!^ Columbus State Sr. Stayner, Ontario

D Megan Gil North Georgia Jr. Dacula, Ga.

D Brianna Belsky#+ Lenoir-Rhyne Sr. Egg Harbor Township, N.J.

D Macy Franklin# Wingate Jr. Conover, N.C.

MF Jade Pennock North Georgia Sr. Pontefract, England

MF Hulda Sigurdardottir King So. Reykjavik, Iceland

MF Maria Marti Bartis# Clayton State Sr. Girona, Spain

MF Sophia Matonak# North Georgia Jr. Monroe, Ga.