D2CCA All-Midwest Region Team Release

ALLENDALE, Mich.—The Grand Valley State women's soccer team has not yet completed its body of work for the 2016 season, yet the accolades have started to pile up for their accomplishments up to this point. Gabriella Mencotti has been selected as the D2CCA Midwest Region Player of the Year, headlining a group of eight Lakers selected to D2CCA All-Midwest Region teams per a release from the regional headquarters on Wednesday.
 
Altogether, the Lakers had six players selected to the All-Midwest Region First Team. Mencotti and fellow forwards Jayma Martin and Kendra Stauffer were selected, as was midfielder Marti Corby. A pair of Laker defenders, Shannon Quinn and Clare Carlson, were also named to the First Team.
 
Recognized as All-Midwest Region Second Team players were defender Erika Bradfield and  holding midfielder Dani Johnson. Grand Valley State led all schools with eight total All-Midwest Region selections, followed by Rockhurst (four) and Bellarmine/Truman State (three apiece). All six of GVSU's All-Midwest Region First Team selections are automatically eligible for the D2CCA All-American ballot, with those teams being set to be released on Wednesday, November 30^th.
 
Mencotti was an easy choice for the Midwest Region Player of the Year, as she leads all of Division II in total goals (28) and points (66) and is tied for second in game-winning goals (8). She has compiled eight multi-goal games, including two hat tricks in which she scored four and five goals. The Novi, Michigan native has easily surpassed her career high in goals (16) and points (43) while joining Stauffer and Martin to form the most dangerous offensive trio in the country. Stauffer is making her second straight All-Midwest First Team appearance, having earned the award in 2015, and is having a career year of her own with 16 goals and 13 assists. Martin earns her first All-Midwest Region First Team selection as she has scored a career best 18 goals and added nine assists.
 
Corby makes her fourth straight All-Midwest First Team selection, having amassed a Division II best 23 assists in her final season. Corby's pass first mentality this season has led her to surge ahead to seize the GVSU program record for assists in a career, as she continues to build on her career mark of 60 assists. Additionally, Corby repeated as the GLIAC Offensive Player of the Year in 2016, having also claimed the honor in the 2015 season, and is sitting in third place on GVSU's career points list, with 172.
 
Marking her first career All-Midwest Region selection, Dani Johnson has been a strong contributor for the Lakers this season at the holding midfielder position. Johnson has started all but two games for GVSU this season, and has helped to anchor the Laker back line ahead of defenders Clare Carlson, Shannon Quinn and Erika Bradfield. Together, this group has helped the Lakers record 34 shutouts in their past 47 games, allowing just 16 goals over that span and compiling a 43-2-2 record in those contests.  While Carlson is making her second straight All-Midwest Region First Team appearance, the others are first-time honorees on the All-Region teams.
 
The Lakers are 20-1-1 this season, and with their most recent victory they notched their 10^th straight 20-win season in school history. Having won the Division II National Championship in the past three seasons, the Lakers are once again thick in the action of the NCAA Tournament, as they play in the Midwest Regional Championship on Friday, November 18^th against Truman State.