IRVING, Texas – The American Conference has announced the winners of its 2026 women's soccer postseason honors, as voted on by the league's head coaches.
Charlotte senior forward Evie Craven was named Offensive Player of the Year to lead the six major individual award winners. Regular-season champion Memphis claimed a pair of awards with sophomore defender/midfielder Yuna Nagata earning Defensive Player of the Year and junior Ai Kitagawa capturing Midfielder of the Year accolades. UAB sophomore Macie Murphy was selected as the conference Goalkeeper of the Year, and Rice midfielder Neerali Kapadia was tabbed as the Freshman of the Year. The Temple coaching staff led by head coach Chris Shaw secured Coaching Staff of the Year honors.
Craven became the first Charlotte player to claim the top offensive award in the American, leading all league players with 10 goals and 22 points in 10 conference matches. Craven registered three separate multi-goal performances during conference contests, scoring all 10 goals in the run of play.
Nagata’s recognition as conference defender of the year was the fourth straight such award by a Memphis player and the fifth overall for the Tigers since 2018. Memphis has allowed a conference-low 15 goals (0.88 goals per match) across 17 total matches thus far this season, including only four goals surrendered (0.40 goals per match) in 10 American matchups.
Kitagawa repeated as the conference’s top midfielder, the fifth time a Memphis player has captured the award as a conference member. Kitagawa led all American players with 1.73 points per match (9 goals, 8 assists, 26 points) across competitions during the regular season, including 18 points (6 goals, 6 assists) in 10 conference starts.
Murphy was the first UAB representative voted as the American’s standout goalkeeper after posting a conference-best 0.77 goals against average and six solo shutouts in 13 regular season matches. Murphy excelled in conference play with five shutouts over nine matches as part of a 0.78 goals against average against league opponents.
Kapadia became the second freshman from Rice in as many seasons to be recognized as the top rookie in the American, leading all players in the conference and ranking third nationally with 11 assists during the regular season. Kapadia was also tied for the assists lead in conference play with seven assists over 10 matches.
Under the leadership of Shaw, Temple clinched a berth in the American women’s soccer tournament for the first time since 2018 thanks to a 4-4-2 conference record (11-6-2 overall) during the regular season. The 14 conference points earned by the Owls were the most for the program in a conference season since joining the American, while the four league wins equaled the 2015 Temple squad that posted a 4-4-1 mark against conference opposition.
Rice earned the Team Fair Play Award for the first time as an American member after recording the fewest cumulative fouls, yellow cards and red cards in conference play.
Memphis led all American programs with eight total all-conference selections, including three players on the first team. UAB and Charlotte each saw five total players earn all-conference recognition that featured two selections apiece on the first team. Three conference players, Charlotte’s Craven, Memphis’ Kitagawa and Florida Atlantic junior forward Hailey Santiago, were unanimous first-team choices.
Rice and Temple paced all programs with three selections to the All-Freshman Team, with all three Temple honorees in midfielder Giovanna Echavarria, forward Victoria Pimenta and goalkeeper Ana Zivkovic unanimous selections. Other unanimous choices were Memphis midfielder Abby Forsgren, Rice midfielder Kapadia and Rice forward Sloane Popov.
2026 American Conference Women’s Soccer Awards (as voted by conference head coaches)
Offensive Player of the Year
Evie Craven, Sr., F, Charlotte
Defensive Player of the Year
Yuna Nagata, So., D/M, Memphis
Midfielder of the Year
Ai Kitagawa, Jr., Memphis
Goalkeeper of the Year
Macie Murphy, So., UAB
Freshman of the Year
Neerali Kapadia, M, Rice
Coaching Staff of the Year
Temple (Head Coach Chris Shaw, Assistant Coaches Kenie Wright and Adrian Blewitt, and Graduate Assistant Goalkeepers Coach Ludvig Wille)
Team Fair Play Award
Rice
All-Conference First Team
Avery Berryman, Sr., M, UAB
Macie Murphy, So., GK, UAB
Evie Craven, Sr., F, Charlotte*
Rachel Logue, Grad, D, Charlotte
Hailey Santiago, Jr., F, Florida Atlantic*
Ai Kitagawa, Jr., M, Memphis*
Evelyn Mackay, Jr., D, Memphis
Yuna Nagata, So., D/M, Memphis
Claire Niedermeier, Jr., F, UNT
Neerali Kapadia, Fr., M, Rice
Leah Varela, R-So., M, UTSA
All-Conference Second Team
Abby Graeser, Sr., D, UAB
Lailah Stewart, Sr., F, UAB
Lucie Bertrand, Sr., M, Charlotte
Penelope Rich, Jr., D, Charlotte
Isabella Gutierrez, 5th, M, East Carolina
Ally Casey, Jr., D, Memphis
Abby Forsgren, Fr., M, Memphis
Ellis Kelly, So., F/M, Memphis
Victoria Pimenta, Fr., F, Temple
Ana Zivkovic, Fr., GK, Temple
Kyrsten Kizer, Sr., M, Tulsa
All-Conference Third Team
Caitlin Keeling, Sr., M, UAB
Annabelle Walker, Sr., M, Charlotte
Caitlen-Star Dolan Boodram, 3rd, F, East Carolina
Lola Hathorne, Fr., M, Florida Atlantic
Mihiro Furuya, So., F/M, Memphis
Ava Galani, So., GK, Memphis
Lily Cunningham, Sr., D, UNT
Sloane Popov, Fr., F, Rice
Lilly Reuscher, Jr., D, Rice
Maddie Ward, So., D, Temple
Brooklyn Bailey, So., F, UTSA
All-Freshman Team
Selena Gaytan, M, Florida Atlantic
Lola Hathorne, M, Florida Atlantic
Maira Boosman, D, Memphis
Abby Forsgren, M, Memphis*
Neerali Kapadia, M, Rice*
Valentina Labuschagne, M, Rice
Sloane Popov, F, Rice*
McKenna Battilla, M, South Florida
Giovanna Echavarria, M, Temple*
Victoria Pimenta, F, Temple*
Ana Zivkovic, GK, Temple*
*denotes unanimous selection