GORHAM, Maine – Seniors
Breanna Atwood (Franklin, Mass.),
Catriona Gould (Freeport, Maine), and
Mia Sargent (Portland, Maine/Deering), junior
Julia McKenna (Windham, Maine) and sophomore
Riley Reitchel (Palermo, Maine/Erskine Academy) of the 2023 Little East Conference Champion University of Southern Maine Huskies' women's soccer team have each been selected to the United Soccer Coaches Division III District 1 All-Region team. Atwood, Gould and Sargent were named to the All-Region first team, while McKenna was selected to the second team, and Reitchel earned a spot on the third team.
Gould is earning a spot on the USC All-Region first team for the second consecutive season. Sargent and McKenna, both third team selections in 2022, are now two-time All-Region selection. Atwood and Reitchel are earning All-Region honors for the first time in their careers. With five Huskies named to the 2023 USC All-Region team, it is the most in program history, and brings the number of individual student-athletes to earn the honor to eight. Gould was the first-ever USM women's soccer player to earn first team honors in 2022, and is now the first two-time first team selection. She is joined by Atwood and Sargent on the short list of first team designees.
A three-time Little East Conference forward (first team: 2022, 2023), Gould is ripping through the Huskies' offensive records. Named the 2022 LEC Offensive Player of the Year, Gould has helped the Huskies to back-to-back (2022. 20223) conference titles. Leading the Huskies offensively with 14 goals and six assists for 34 points, Gould scored three game-winning goals in 2023. Tying the program's record for goals in a career (43), Gould achieved the feat with a brace in the Huskies' 3-0 shutout victory over WestConn for the 2023 conference title. Already the program's single-season record holder for goals (20) and points (47) set during the 2022 season, Gould is three points shy of the school record (106). An United Soccer Coaches' All-Region first team forward in 2022, Gould recently was named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District team. She is a Biology major.
Named the Little East Conference Defensive Player of the Year consecutively in 2022 and 2023, Sargent holds the distinction of being the first Huskies' women's soccer player to earn the accoladed from the LEC. A three-time All-LEC defender, earning first team honors in 2022 and 2023, Sargent has filled the roll of centerback for the Huskies adeptly. Playing the second most minutes behind Atwood in 2023, Sargent lead a defensive that combined for 13 shutouts and limited its opponents to just 0.77 goals per game. Named the LEC's Defensive Player of the Week three times in 2023, Sargent contributed offensively, scoring two goals and picking up a pair of assists. Sargent scored the Huskies' game-winning goal in the program's first NCAA tournament win, a 2-0 victory over No. 10 Rowan. Playing in 62 career games with 60 starts, Sargent has nine goals and four assists for 22 points. A Biology major, Sargent is a two-time College Sports Communicators Academic All-District student athlete.
Atwood, the Little East Conference's 2022 and 2023 Goalkeeper of the Year, earned her spot on the USC All-Region first team with another record-breaking season. Named the LEC's Goalkeeper of the Week five times in 2023, Atwood broke her own single-season shut out record (12), and established a new career mark for shutouts amassing 27 in 59 career games. Atwood earned her record-setting 12
th shutout of the 2023 season, backstopping the Huskies to their first-ever NCAA tournament win, a 2-0 victory over No. 10 Rowan University, making seven saves - including a penalty stop. With a career record of 42-10-6, Atwood has a remarkable 0.840 career goals against average and an 85.4 career save percentage. A two-time first team All-Little East Conference goalkeeper, Atwood is a two-time Academic All-District student-athlete and is working towards a degree in Exercise Science.
The Huskies' second-leading scorer a sophomore, Reitchel is earning USC All-District honors for the first time as a member of the third team. Scoring 10 goals and passing off a team-best 11 assists in 2023 for 31 points, Reitchel earned second team All-Little East Conference honors. A crafty winger with speed, Reitchel scored 14 of her points against conference opponents. Scoring four game-winning goals during the season, she was the deciding factor in USM's 1-0 win over Eastern Connecticut to start the conference season. During the 2023 LEC Championship, Reitchel has two goals and two assists and was named the conference tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Named to the CSC Academic All-District team, Reitchel is a Linguistics major.
Now a two-time All-Region player, McKenna has earned a spot on the second team after a third team appearance in 2022. A two-time All-Little East Conference selection (2022, 2023), McKenna had nine goals and seven assists for 25 points in her second season with Southern Maine. Scoring three game-winning goals during the season, including the goal that clinched the Huskies' regular season title, McKenna was second on the Huskies' in assists, and scored 10 of her 23 points against conference opponents. The 2022 Rookie of the Year in conference, McKenna has 21 goals and nine assists for 51 points in her 42-game career. Five of her 21 goals are game-winners. She is a Sports Management major.
