SoCon Announces Women's Soccer Postseason Awards
 
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Two from the UNC Greensboro (UNCG) women's soccer team were named to The Southern Conference (SoCon) All-Conference teams, announced ahead of the quarterfinal round of the 2024 SoCon Tournament.
 
Freshman forward Merle Greulich highlighted the Spartans' honorees being voted the SoCon Freshman of the Year and also being tabbed to the All-Freshman team. Redshirt junior midfielder Rachel Poplin was selected to the All-Conference second team.
 
Greulich earns the Spartans' first major award since the 2018 season when Cienna Rideout was named Player of the Year and Nicole Souply earned Freshman of the Year. She is the ninth Spartan to be named SoCon Freshman of the Year.  
 
The Dortmund, Germany, native has started in eight games and played in 17, accumulating a total of 903 minutes in her freshman campaign. She is second on the team with nine points, scoring four goals and one assist. Greulich has scored one-game winning goal and has tallied one penalty kick.
 
She scored two goals in UNCG's 5-1 SoCon opening victory over VMI in mid-September. She then added her first-collegiate assist in a 1-0 shutout at Chattanooga and followed that with a goal in a 2-0 win over Wofford to start October play. The freshman scored on a penalty kick most recently, in the Spartans' 2-1 loss to Samford in the regular season finale.
 
Poplin earns her second accolade from the SoCon after being voted to the All-Freshman team in 2023. This season she has started and played in all 18 games for the Blue & Gold, logging 1,512 minutes. The Winston-Salem, North Carolina, native scored her first-collegiate goal in a 5-1 victory over VMI to start Conference play.
 
The midfielder has been a key part of the Spartans' defense that is second in the conference with 1.056 goals against average. Poplin leads the conference with over 50 passes per game and has over 500 passes this season, while also leading the team with 27 shots.
 
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The Spartans continue SoCon postseason play on Friday, Nov. 1 with a quarterfinal matchup against No. 2 Samford at Shauna Yelton Field in Birmingham, Alabama, starting at 5:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. CT.

2024 Women's Soccer All-Conference Team
  
Player of the Year – Larkin Thomason, So., F, Mercer
Defensive Player of the Year – Ava Robitaille, Jr., M, Western Carolina
Coach of the Year – Chad Miller, Western Carolina
Freshman of the Year – Merle Greulich, F, UNCG
 
First Team
F – Larkin Thomason, Mercer
F – Isabella DeMarco, Western Carolina
F – Milla Syska, Western Carolina
M – Nieva Gaither, Furman
M – Whitaker Buchanan, Samford
M – Naya Marcil, Western Carolina
M – Ava Robitaille, Western Carolina
D – Miya Poplin, Furman
D – Ella Simpson, Samford
D – Becca Campbell, Western Carolina
GK – Leanne Trudel, Western Carolina
 
Second Team
F – Tara Katz, Furman
F – Jada Moorman, Mercer
F – Layton Glisson, Samford
F – Caroline Richvalsky, Chattanooga
M – Kendall Cook, Mercer
M – Sara Engels, Mercer
M – Rachel Poplin, UNCG
D – Madi Hook, ETSU
D – Lena Dykes, Mercer
D – Brenna Swiger, Chattanooga
GK – Ashton Blair, ETSU

All-Freshman Team
Charlotte Seay, The Citadel
Jada Cooper, ETSU
Reese DeJong, Furman
Sarah Sexton, Furman
Maggie Rollins, Mercer
Merle Greulich, UNCG      
Alex Parr, Samford
EG Dillard, Chattanooga
Sophia Mize, Chattanooga
Malia Roberts, Western Carolina
Kate Markey, Wofford