WINONA, Minn. - The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) announced its annual women's soccer awards on Tuesday. Saint Mary's swept the board with team awards. Six Cardinals recorded post season honors and three tallied the highest achievements.
 
The Cardinals tallied a triple threat. In his fifth season as head coach, Nick Rizzo was selected as the 2024 MIAC Women's Coach of the Year. The junior forward Lauryn Skoruppa collected her first post season award as the 2024 MIAC Offensive Player of the Year. If that wasn't enough, senior defenseman Dakota Leonard earned her third MIAC honor as the 2024 Defensive Player of the year.
 
To add to the post season honors, juniors Malerie Williams and Lauren Ashe notched MIAC All-Conference honors as their first post season awards. Joining her teammates is senior Maya Wachter who tallied her fourth consecutive MIAC Honorable Mention award.
 
Rizzo, assistant coach Averi Cash, guided the Cardinals to a 14-3-4 overall record, including an 8-1-2 mark in conference play, earning Saint Mary's its first-ever trip to the MIAC Championship game. The Cardinals' 14 wins were the most since the 1993 Saint Mary's team finished 14-3-1, and the eight MIAC wins were the most since going 8-1-1 in 1994.
 
He has now coached both the offensive and defensive player of the year in one season for the first time in his career.
 
Skoruppa, from Littleton, Colorado, collected her first MIAC post season honors earning herself the highest accolade of MIAC Offensive Player of the Year. Skoruppa played in all 21 matches. She led the team in goals with 12 and the second most in the conference. The forward was fourth in the conference in totaled points of 28 with four added assists. Skoruppa shot (.649) percent on goal to lead her team.
 
Leonard, of Lincolnshire, Illinois, notched the 2024 MIAC Defensive Player of the Year in her final season as a Cardinal. This award, arguably her best award, will be the third of her four year career. As a junior, she collected First Team All-MIAC and as a sophomore she earned Honorable Mention all MIAC.
 
As a defender, Leonard started every match and recorded three goals on the season, only the second defender in the conference to do so. The senior added eight points to her resume. Leonard was apart of the glue of the back line for the Cardinals and helped her team to eight shut outs.
 
Williams earned herself her first MIAC post season award landing All-Conference honors as a junior. From Osseo, Minnesota, Williams started all 21 games as a defender alongside Leonard. She was second on her team in minutes played as she was crucial to keeping her opponents out of Saint Mary's end.
Similar to Leonard, she was a part of the glue that kept the back line together and helped her team to eight shut outs.
 
Ashe, the junior from Beaverton, Oregon earned her first post season MIAC award as an All-Conference player. Playing in every game, Ashe tallied two goals and five assists and was third on her team in points with nine. She was fourth on the team in minutes played and notched shooting (.515) percent on goal.
 
Ashe was the free kick taker on the team as she had a way with placements of the ball served into the box to set her teammates up for success.
 
Wachter, the senior defenseman from Dubuque, Iowa, found herself MIAC Honorable Mention for her fourth year in a row recording honors each year of her Cardinal career. Wachter started each game of the 2024 season and tallied the most minutes on the team with 1,851, after this season, she will lead the program in minutes played totaling 6,518 minutes of her four year career.
 
The senior was a part of the glue called the back line in helping her team to eight shutouts.
 
The Cardinals had a historic 2024 season with the help of the six that have been recognized by the conference. The team ranked fourth in the conference in goals with 34. Saint Mary's missed out on the NCAA Post Season Tournament after not hearing their name called on Monday's selection show after falling to St. Catherine University in the MIAC Championship game.
 

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Conference coaches selected Saint Mary's junior forward Lauryn Skoruppa as the MIAC Offensive Player of the Year, while teammate and senior defender Dakota Leonard earned MIAC Defensive Player of the Year honors. St. Catherine first-year defender Jaidyn Richter was named MIAC Rookie of the Year honors. Cardinals head coach Nick Rizzo was celebrated by his peers as the MIAC Coach of the Year.