CARSON, Calif. - GNAC Player of the Year Ashley Porter (Redmond, Wash.) and Ana Gutierrez (Las Cruces, N.M.) were voted onto the Daktronics All-Far West Region First Team, while junior forward Leah Wymer (Bothell, Wash.) earned Second Team recognition, announced Tuesday morning.
The Daktronics All-Region Teams were voted on by a panel of sports information directors from schools in the California Collegiate Athletic Association, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, and the Pacific West Conference. Players selected to the first team, including Porter and Gutierrez, will be listed on the Daktronics All-American ballot, with those results being announced on November 27.
Porter tied her own GNAC record with 14 assists during the season, and she led the conference with 28 total points. She earned two goals and one assist in shutout victories over Sonoma State (Aug. 28) and Northwest Nazarene (Sept. 14), plus she notched two assists in Seattle's wins over Cal State Monterey Bay (Aug. 24), Cal State Dominguez Hills (Aug. 31), and Grand Canyon (Oct. 21).
Gutierrez was the anchor of the defense that allowed only ten goals in 20 matches and shut out the opposition 12 times, including five consecutive shutouts from Sept. 6 to Sept. 24. Scoring two goals during the season, Gutierrez finished her career as a three-time GNAC Academic All-Conference honoree, a two-time member of the CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team, and the third women's soccer player to be named First Team All-GNAC four times.
Wymer led the Redhawks with nine goals and led the conference with six game-winning goals, including the goal early in overtime in the season finale against Seattle Pacific to clinch the GNAC title for Seattle University. With one year remaining, Wymer is already tied for sixth on Seattle's all-time goals list with 27 career goals. Wymer has been a unanimous selection to the All-GNAC First Team for two consecutive years.
Seattle University finished the 2006 season with a 15-3-2 overall record, including an 8-1-1 conference record good enough to win its first GNAC title since 2001. The team advanced to the NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Tournament for the second time in three seasons.