Porter, Wierenga Earn NAIA All-American Honors
KANSAS CITY – Taylor University's Savannah Porter and Katie Wierenga were named NAIA Women's Soccer Honorable Mention All-Americans recently, as announced by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
Porter and Wierenga are the first pair of teammates in program history to earn All-American honors in the same year. Only Molly Drooger in 2012 had been named an NAIA All-American in the team's history prior to Porter and Wierenga's honors, giving the TU women's soccer program three NAIA All-Americans all-time.
The NAIA Women's Soccer All-American list consisted of 66 student-athletes, with 11 spots on each of the first, second and third teams and 33 on the honorable mention list.
Wierenga, a senior from Grandville, Michigan, also collected Crossroads League Midfielder of the Year, All-Crossroads League First-Team, CoSIDA First-Team Academic All-American and NAIA Scholar-Athlete honors in 2016. The TU midfielder started all 17 contests for the Trojans this fall, attempting five shots, including two on goal.
Porter, a sophomore from Galt, California, was also an All-Crossroads League First-Team performer, along with Wierenga. The Trojan defender started each of the team's 17 matches this season, taking five shots and placing two of those on goal, with one of those shots finding the back of the net for a goal, while also dishing out an assist.
The duo led the Taylor defense that set program-bests for shutouts (11) and goals-against average (0.65), helping the team to a team-record 14 victories and the highest NAIA Top-25 ranking in school history (No. 16). The Trojans also took down the first Top-15 team in head coach Scott Stan's nine-year tenure, defeating then-No. 14 Campbellsville, 1-0, on the road.
Taylor University has now garnered three All-American accolades during the 2016-2017 year, with Matt Hall of the men's cross country team joining Porter and Wierenga.