ALISO VIEJO — The Golden State Athletic Conference has named five Westmont women’s soccer players to the 2021 All-GSAC Women’s Soccer Team.
The five represent all four classes with two from the junior class.
“We are a well-rounded team with every class contributing,” said Westmont head coach Jenny Jaggard. “It is cool to see that each of these classes have found a place within the team to use their talent and establish roles for themselves.”
The five Warrior recipients are senior Teagan Matye of Roseville, juniors Taylie Scott of Maple Grove, Minn. and Grace Duckens from Rancho Santa Margarita, sophomore Daisy Alvarez of Long Beach and freshman Shayna Stock out of Redondo Beach.
Matye, a midfielder whose No. 24 uniform is nearly always on the field, has produced five goals and two assists this season.
“Teagan is one of the most well-rounded players that has been a part of this program,” said Jaggard. “She covers so much ground, defends tremendously well and is very gifted offensively. To me, Teagan is one of the best players in any game she plays. She is extremely smart and is a team captain for us. No one ever outworks Teagan. She goes for 90 minutes, or in the case of this last weekend, 110 minutes. She never stops, never comes off the field.”
Scott serves as a central defender for a squad that only allowed four goals in conference play. GSAC opponents managed just 14 shots on goal all season.
Scott has logged the most minutes played this season at 1,337.
“Taylie is somehow a graceful, moving brick wall,” described Jaggard of her play. “You just don’t get past her. William Jessup’s forwards are very talented, but we were able to basically shut them down in our final conference game and a lot of that came down to Taylie. She stayed tight to them, then timed it exactly perfectly, stepping in front and picking off the pass before they touched it. That takes a lot of boldness and perfect timing.”
Duckens, a forward, led the team in points (13) by scoring five goals and adding three assists.
“Grace is so crafty on the ball and is very confident,” Jaggard said. “She does things to defenders that is a little cheeky with flips and nutmegs, but she is good enough that she can do it. She is a very talented offensive player.”
Alvarez, a defensive midfielder, has put the ball in the back of the opponent’s net on four occasions — all of them off of free kicks.
“Daisy is our specialist free kicker,” Jaggard noted. “When we recruited her out of club soccer, she was consistently scoring two goals a game and usually one of them was a free kick. We wondered if that would translate to this level. Would she be able to get the ball past a college goalkeeper? She has put that question to rest. The four she has scored this season were absolute bangers, perfectly placed.”
Shayna Stock is the Warrior’s left defensive back who has assisted on five of the Warriors’ goals.
“We knew when we recruited her that Shayna was good,” Jaggard said. “However, the role that she has filled this year has far exceeded what I thought she would be able to provide for us. She plays box-to-box – getting up and sending crosses in and then getting back into her box to defend.
“Shayna’s timing is very good in the flank position where you have to read a lot of space to know when to step and apply pressure and when to stay tucked in with your back line. She is very smart at reading and knowing when to go and she has the athleticism to get there.”
Ron Smith is the sports information director at Westmont College.
