COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.- Three individual Air Force women’s soccer players have earned All-Mountain West Conference post-season honors, the conference announced Monday, Nov. 4 following a vote from the conference’s head coaches. Freshman Lexi Romero has been named both the Offensive Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year, while also being named to the All-Conference First Team and the All-Newcomer Team. In addition, junior defender Alex Giggie was tabbed on the All-Conference Second Team, while freshman defender Kayla Milford was also named to the All-Newcomer Team.
Romero is the first Falcon to earn MW Conference Offensive Player of the Year honors, and the second Falcon to earn a Player of the Year honor all-time, the first since Tracy Healy was the Colorado Athletic Conference Player of the Year in 1995. She is also the fifth Falcon to be named a Newcomer of the Year, and the first since Jennifer Rowland in 2001 (MW). The other three were Kari James (MW, 1999), Stephanie Rader (WAC, 1996) and Dolly Pasini (CAC, 1993). Romero is also just the second player in MW history to earn both awards, the other being Wyoming’s Kaitlyn Lomsnes in 2014.
Meanwhile, Giggie earns her second All-Conference honor after being named to the All-Newcomer team as a freshman in 2017. This is Milford’s first All-Conference honor. The three All-Conference honorees marks the third time in the last four season’s AF has had three players recognized.
For Romero, the awards cap off what was a historic debut for the freshman as a Falcon. She led the conference in total goals (14), total points (33), goals per game (.82), and points per game (1.94), while ranking second in game winning goals (6). Nationally, she is in the top-20 in all of those categories, including 12th in total goals, 17th in total points, 13th in goals per game, 14th in points per game, and 10th in game winning goals. She is also the only freshman with at least 14 goals and 33 points in the NCAA this season.
She also had the best offensive season in program history, breaking long-standing singe season records in total goals, total points, and game winning goals. All were previously held by Healy and set back in 1993 and 1994.
Giggie was one of the leaders of a strong Air Force defensive back line this season. The junior started all 18 games and played the most minutes of any position player, totaling 1,521. She aided on seven Air Force shutouts, which was the most for the Falcons since 2010 and ranked fifth in the conference. She was also Air Force’s primary set piece taker on free kicks and corner kicks. This led her to score a goal, the game winner against Siena, and have four assists for a total of six points.
Milford led all freshman for Air Force with 1,409 minutes played after starting in all 18 games. While helping lead the efforts on AF’s seven shutouts, she also scored a goal and tallied an assist. In addition, six of her seven shots were on net for a SOG percentage of 86 percent. Milford is the fourth consecutive Falcon defender to be named to the All-Newcomer team after Kasey Stavig in 2016, Giggie in 2017, and Keelyn Osoba in 2018.
The efforts of these three players and their teammates helped lead Air Force to one of its best season’s in program history, finishing 10-7-1 (5-6 MW). The 10 wins are the most since 1999, while the .583 winning percentage is the best in the Division I era (since 1996). The five conference wins was also a program record in the Mountain West era (since 1999). In addition, the 36 team goals scored is the most since 2000 and third-most all-time.
2019 Mountain West Individual Awards
Offensive Player of the Year: Lexi Romero, Fr., F, Air Force
Defensive Player of the Year: Kristen Amarikwa, Sr., D, San José State
Newcomer of the Year: Lexi Romero, Fr., F, Air Force
Coach of the Year: Bill Hempen, Colorado State
2019 Mountain West Women’s Soccer All-Conference First Team
Name Class Position Team
Lexi Romero Fr. F Air Force
Aubree Chatterton Jr. F Boise State
McKenna Kynett Sr. MF Boise State
Raimee Sherle Sr. F Boise State
Mikayla Schachtell Sr. D Boise State
Gracie Armstrong So. F Colorado State
Halley Havlicek Sr. D Colorado State
Caley Lordemann Sr. MF Colorado State
Gabi McDonald So. GK Colorado State
Jessie Hix Sr. MF New Mexico
Chloe Frisch Jr. MF San Diego State
Kristen Amarikwa Sr. D San José State
2019 Mountain West Women’s Soccer All-Conference Second Team
Name Class Position Team
Alex Giggie Jr. D Air Force
Sydney Smith So. GK Boise State
Jacqui Hand So. F Colorado College
Addie Wright Jr. D Colorado State
Megan Amick Jr. D Fresno State
Ele Avery Jr. F Fresno State
Leilani Baker Jr. F New Mexico
Jadyn Edwards So. MF New Mexico
Alexa Kirton Jr. D New Mexico
Gwen Maly Jr. F New Mexico
Sarah Broacha Jr. D San Diego State
Rachelle Elve Fr. F San Diego State
Laura Fuentes So. MF San Diego State
Karlee Pottorff Jr. D San José State
Ashley Cardozo Jr. MF Utah State
Amber Marshall Jr. MF Utah State
2019 Mountain West Women’s Soccer All-Newcomer Team
Name Class Position Team
Lexi Romero Fr. F Air Force
Kayla Milford Fr. D Air Force
Gracie Armstrong So. F Colorado State
Kristen Noonan So. F Colorado State
Gabby Brown Fr. MF Nevada
Rachelle Elve Fr. F San Diego State
Brooke Lisowski Sr. GK San Diego State
Sabrina Weinman Fr. MF San José State
Lourdes Bosch Fr. MF UNLV
Diera Walton Fr. GK Utah State
Jamie Tatum Fr. MF Wyoming
