KANSAS CITY, Kan. --- Samford soccer players Amber Cress, Theresa Henry and Alyssa Whitehead were all honored by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America on Thursday as they were named members of the All-Southeast Region. Cress and Henry both garnered Second-Team honors, while Whitehead received Third-Team accolades.
Cress, who was a 2009 Co-Player of the Year in the Southern Conference, finished the season with seven goals, nine assists and 23 points. A senior forward from Zionsville, Ind., Cress finished her illustrious Samford career as the third-place leader in all-time goals scored (23), concluded the year ranked 18th in the nation in assist per game.
Also earning Second-Team honors Thursday, was the Bulldogs' Henry, a sophomore defender from Marietta, Ga. Henry received All-SoCon accolades in 2009 and helped anchor Samford's defense which shattered the school's all-time record for fewest goals allowed in a season (6). The Bulldogs ended the year as the nation's top-ranked team in both goals-against average (0.31) and save percentage (0.92).
Whitehead, Samford's sophomore goalkeeper, also played a major role in the Bulldogs' defensive success in 2009. She earned Third-Team All-Southeast Region honors Thursday and finished the season ranked first in the nation in goals-against average (0.31) and third in save percentage (0.91). Samford's 6-foot-3 native of Hattiesburg, Miss., only allowed six goals on 169 shots faced in 2009.
As a team, the Bulldogs finished the season with a school-record 12-1-5 overall mark. Samford advanced to the SoCon Tournament semifinals for a second-consecutive year and completed the season ranked among the nation's top-10 teams in four statistical categories.
Defensively, the Bulldogs finished the year ranked sixth in the nation in shutout percentage (0.67). In Samford's 18 matches of the 2009 season, 12 ended with the defense earning a shutout.