STANDISH, Maine – Saint Joseph's College junior midfielder McKenzie Murphy (West Baldwin, Maine) and sophomore goalkeeper Adia Grogan (Kennebunk, Maine) have garnered New England Women's Intercollegiate Soccer Association (NEWISA) Second Team All-Region honors, as announced by the organization late last week.
Both players also earned United Soccer Coaches All-New England accolades and First Team All-Conference honors following the 2019 season.
Murphy emerged as the Monks' top offensive threat during her junior campaign and led the team in goals (10), assists (6), points (26), shots (66), and shots on goal (36) in 2019. In 61 career games, Murphy has netted 17 goals and 11 assists for 45 points with four game-winning tallies.
Grogan enjoyed an outstanding season in her second year as a starter with a 13-4-3 record, three shutouts, 117 saves, and 18 goals allowed over 1,833 minutes in 2019. She posted the sixth-lowest goals against average (0.88) and eighth-best save percentage (.867) in the 32-year history of the SJC women's soccer program and paced the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) in both categories this fall.
Asked to take the majority of the team's set pieces from the midfield quadrant, the 2019 GNAC Goalkeeper of the Year played a significant role for the Monks' offense in 2019. As a result, the strong-legged keeper scored a goal and added a pair of assists for four total points with 16 shots, including seven on frame, during her sophomore campaign.
Under the watch of seventh-year Head Coach Jenelle Harris, the Monks posted a 14-4-3 overall record with a 9-2-1 mark in GNAC play en route to claiming the #2 seed in the conference tournament for the second-consecutive season. The 2018 GNAC Champions advanced to the conference title bout after topping USJ in PK's in the quarterfinal and edging Emmanuel, 2-1, in semifinal action but their bid to repeat as GNAC champs was thwarted by top-seeded Johnson & Wales, who defeated the Monks by a 2-1 score in the title contest on Saturday.
The GNAC Championship setback signaled the end of college soccer for the program's six seniors: Olivia Alesio (Schenectady, N.Y.), Cori Balam (Lyndeborough, N.H.), Peggy Balboni (Millis, Mass.), Hannah Butler (Melrose, Mass.), Jade Jordan (Baldwin, Maine), and Hailey Tarr (Eliot, Maine). This senior class has helped Saint Joseph's post a 53-21-7 (.654) overall record, including a 32-9-5 (.696) mark in GNAC play, as well as the program's first GNAC Championship last fall.
