By Independent Record - 12/11/08

The Carroll College soccer program was well represented on both the All-America and Academic All-America teams in 2008. The Saints were led by senior Katie Joseph earning All-America honor for the second year, while three other Saints - Hannah Young, Talya Lorenz, and Catherine Beall - made the academic team.

"Katie has been a special player for the Saints soccer team over her four seasons of play," said Carroll coach Dave Thorvilson. "She has started in just about every game of her college career and has been the anchor to our defense during that time. I am excited to see a player of her caliber be honored two years in a row and for a player in the Frontier Conference and our soccer program to get national recognition. Katie will be missed next year but we are hoping to retain her services as an assistant coach as she finishes up her nursing degree next fall."

To earn Academic All-American honors, an athlete needs to be a junior or higher and have a cumulative GPA of 3.50 or higher.

"With such a young team this year it is good to see our upperclassmen set such a good example in the classroom, said Thorvilson. "Our student-athletes come to Carroll to get a good education and work very hard at their time-management skills to post a high GPA and still meet the high standards of playing a college sport at Carroll College."

Despite the challenge of coaching a team with 14 freshmen and a mere three seniors, coach Thorvilson was able to lead the program to back-to-back frontier conference championship and an overall regular season record of 12-6. The Saints hosted the Unaffiliated Conference Championship, advancing to the championship game before losing to Rocky Mountain College in a 1-0 decision. The Saints return 24 players next year and are gunning for another conference championship.