Tess Brenneman receives soccer honors

Montana senior defender Tess Brenneman was named All-Pacific Region recently by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. Brenneman earned second-team honors, the highest NSCAA award for a Grizzly since 2000.

Brenneman, from Kalispell, becomes the sixth player to earn NSCAA all-region honors under Mark Plakorus, who has coached players to all-region honors in four of his six seasons leading the Grizzlies.

Erin Craig was recognized in 2012, Maddey Frey in 2013 and Tyler Adair, Brooke Moody and Hallie Widner in 2014. Those players all received third-team honors.

The last Montana player to earn second-team Pacific Region honors was Shannon Forslund in 2000.

Brenneman, a center back who started all 20 matches in the fall, was voted first-team All-Big Sky Conference last month for the second straight year.

Montana went 9-6-5 in Brenneman's final season and tied for third in the Big Sky with a 5-2-3 league record. The Grizzlies led the Big Sky in both goals-against average (0.80) and shutouts (9).

"This is a well-deserved award for Tess and a nice way to highlight the work she put in over the last five seasons," said Plakorus.

Brenneman, of Kalispell, redshirted the 2012 season. She was one of Montana's starting outside backs in 2013 and '14, the latter ending with Brenneman earning second-team All-Big Sky honors.

She moved to center back for the 2015 season and was on the field for all but 58 of the team's nearly 4,000 minutes of game action the last two seasons. She was voted first-team All-Big Sky both years.

"Tess put in the work to become a better player every year she was a member of the team," said Plakorus. "She is going to be hard to replace."

Brenneman didn't miss a match in her career, playing in all 81 of Montana's games the last four seasons, two off Forslund's program record of 83. She started the team's last 69 matches, 77 overall, the fourth-highest total in program history.

Brenneman was one of five players from the Big Sky to make All-Pacific Region, which is made up of schools from the Big Sky, Pac-12 and Mountain West conferences.

Eastern Washington forward Chloe Williams and Northern Colorado midfielder Mariel Gutierrez also earned second-team honors. Sacramento State defender Rachel Leonard and Eastern Washington midfielder Jenny Chavez were voted to the third team.

Williams was voted the Big Sky's Offensive MVP, Leonard the Defensive MVP. All five players were named first-team All-Big Sky.

2016 NSCAA All-Pacific Region Teams

First Team

Pos. -- Player (Class, School, Hometown)

K -- Jane Campbell (Sr., Stanford, Kennesaw, Ga.)

D -- Maddie Bauer (Sr., Stanford, Newport Beach, Calif.)

D -- Mandy Freeman (Sr., USC, Royal Palm Beach, Fla.)

D -- Chidera Akubuilo (Jr., UNLV, Torrance, Calif.)

M -- Andi Sullivan (Jr., Stanford, Lorton, Va.)

M -- Jessie Fleming (Fr., UCLA, London, Ont.)

M -- Morgan Andrews (Sr., USC, Milford, N.H.)

M -- Taylor Kornieck (Fr., Colorado, Henderson, Nev.)

F -- Lily Sender (Sr., UNLV, Honolulu, Hawaii)

F -- Hailey Skolmoski (So., Utah,                Riverton, Utah)

F -- Ifeoma Onumonu (Sr., California, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.)

Second Team

Pos. -- Player (Class, School, Hometown)

K -- Sammy Jo Prudhomme (Sr., USC, Aliso Viejo, Calif.)

D -- Kristen Amerikwa (Fr., San Jose State, Bakersfield, Calif.)

D -- Tavia Leachman (Fr., Utah, Long Beach, Calif.)

D -- Tess Brenneman (Sr., Montana, Kalispell, Mont.)

M -- Victoria Barba (Sr., San Diego State, Albuquerque, N.M.)

M -- Mariel Gutierrez (So., Northern Colorado, Gypsum, Colo.)

M -- Jordan DiBiasi (So., Stanford, Highlands Ranch, Colo.)

F -- Alex Anthony (Jr., USC, Littleton, Colo.)

F -- Chloe Williams (Jr., Eastern Washington, Spokane, Wash.)

F -- Dorthe Hoppius (Jr., San Jose State, (Dorsten, Germany)

F -- Darian Jenkins (Sr., UCLA, Riverton, Utah)

Third Team

Pos. -- Player (Class, School, Hometown)

K -- Emily Boyd (Jr., California, Seattle, Wash.)

D -- Stacie Moran (Jr., San Diego State, Alta Loma, Calif.)

D -- Kelsey Andersen (So., Utah State, Hooper, Utah)

D -- Haley Lukas (Jr., California, Pleasanton, Calif.)

D -- Rachel Leonard (Sr., Sacramento State, Livermore, Calif.)

M -- Jenny Chavez (So., Eastern Washington, Newhall, Calif.)

F -- Gabbi Stoian (Jr., Arizona, Scottsdale, Ariz.)

F -- Arielle Ship (Sr., California, Westlake Village, Calif.)

F -- Jessica Brooksby (Sr., Utah State, Hyde Park, Utah)

F -- Kyra Carusa (Jr., Stanford, San Diego, Calif.)

F -- Danica Evans (Sr., Colorado, Lakewood, Colo.)