NMU's Hafner, GVSU's Odendaal Earn GLIAC Women's Soccer Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year Awards

BAY CITY, Mich. – Northern Michigan's Paula Hafner and Grand Valley States Juane Odendaal have been selected 2014 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Women's Soccer Offensive and Defensive "Player of the Year" by the league's coaches. Ohio Dominican's Ashley Blake collected "Freshman of the Year" honors while the Panthers head coach Jonathan Meade was named "Coach of the Year." Saginaw Valley's Claire Spleth rounded out the post-season award winners as the "Goalkeeper of the Year."

Paula Hafner led the Wildcats women's soccer team in goals, points, shots, shots on goal and game winning goals while also leading NMU to a 7-9-1 overall record, which qualified the Wildcats for their sixth appearance in the conference tournament in the past seven years. Hafner ended the regular season atop the conference in scoring with 14 goals and 31 points.  Her 14 goals is second most for a single-season in Wildcat history, while her 31 points is third highest for a single-season in program history.  Hafner also scored multiple goals in four games which ranks second in NMU history. Hafner would go all season without having consecutive games without a goal.

Juane Odendaal became the eighth consecutive Laker, and ninth in program history, to earn the award. A three-time All-GLIAC First Team honoree, Odendaal spearheaded a defensive unit that led the conference goals-against average (0.49), shutouts (11) and yielded a league-low nine goals during the regular season. Odendaal also helped GVSU limit opponents to 6.2 shot attempts and 3.7 shots on goal per match.

Ashley Blake has helped lead the Panthers to the most wins in a season in school history, ODU's first overall GLIAC regular season championship, and the Panthers' first GLIAC tournament victory. Blake leads the Panthers in many offensive categories. Her team high nine goals is tied for sixth best in the GLIAC. Her nine goals is also sixth best by a newcomer at ODU. With four assists, Blake is tied for 15th in the conference. Blake also ranks in the top 10 in the GLIAC in points with 22. In her first GLIAC tournament appearance, Blake was a part of all three goals, scoring twice and adding one assist.

Claire Spleth has thrived in her first season between the posts for the Lady Cardinals.  The sophomore played every minute in net for SVSU, recording eight shutouts in 15 regular season games played.  She finished with an .856 overall save percentage and allowed just 0.84 goals-per-game.  In GLIAC play, Spleth ranked second in shutouts (6) and wins (8), third in save percentage (.881), fourth in goals allowed (0.64) and fifth in total saves (59).  The Indianapolis native was an instrumental part of the Lady Cardinals posting a 10-3-3 overall record in 2014, a turnaround from last season's 7-9-1 record.

Jonathan Meade helped guide the Panthers to their first overall GLIAC regular season championship. Meade also has a GLIAC South Division championship recorded in his time at Ohio Dominican. Since joining ODU in 2009, Meade has recorded double digits wins in all six season. This season Meade led the Panthers to a 14-3-1 record overall, which ties the all-time school record for most wins in a season. Other records with the Panthers have tied or broke this season include most consecutive wins and longest unbeaten streak, nine, and best winning percentage. Meade recorded his 200th career victory in the final regular season match this season, and holds a 67-27-16 record at ODU. His 0.682 winning percentage is best all-time in what is now the 15 season history of women's soccer for the Black and Gold.

A complete list of the 2014 All-GLIAC women's soccer teams is below: