ITHACA, N.Y. – Four members of the Ithaca College women’s soccer team have been named to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) East Region All-Star Team. No team had more players selected to the all-region team. Senior midfielder Amy Scheffer (Schalmont/Schenectady) and junior back Andrea Janda (Sterling/West Boylston, Mass.) earned first-team honors, freshman forward Rachael Palladino (Groton/Lansing), was a second-team pick and forward Lauren Koppel (Southside/Rockville Center), a graduate student, was named to the third team.
Scheffer earns first-team all-region recognition for the third year in a row (she was a third-team all-American last fall). This season she was named first-team Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Upstate NY all-star and the ECAC Upstate NY Offensive Player of the Year and was named Empire 8 Offensive Player of the Year for the second season. A three-time first-team Empire 8 all-star, she scored a team-best 35 points on 16 goals and three assists. Her point total was the program’s fifth-highest single-season performance and her 16 goals (Ithaca’s fourth-highest single-season total) included a school-record eight game winners. Her 96 points and 38 goals both rank second on Ithaca’s career lists and she scored a school-record 19 game-winning goals. Scheffer started all 68 matches over the past three seasons and earned first-team academic all-America honors this fall. She’s a four-time Empire 8 Player of the Week in her career, including twice this year. She was named MVP of last year’s Empire 8 Championship Tournament and shared that award with Palladino this fall.
Janda was named a first-team Empire 8 all-star for the second year in a row and was selected Empire 8 Defensive Player of the Year. An ECAC Upstate NY all-star this season, she’s a three-time all-conference selection (earning first-team honors the past two years) and earned first-team all-region recognition as a sophomore. She’s started all 65 matches in her career and the Bombers have recorded 43 shutouts in that span. Janda is a two-time Empire 8 Defensive Player of the Week and is the only non-goalkeeper who’s ever win that award. She’s collected two assists in her career.
Palladino was one of only two freshmen picked to the all-region team. She was the team’s second-leading scorer and her 12 goals, seven assists and 31 points all set school freshman records. She’s a two-time Empire 8 Player of the Week and she shared MVP honors after the Empire 8 Championship Tournament (she scored both goals in Ithaca’s 2-0 win over Nazareth in the final). Palladino was named Rookie of the Year and a first-team all-star by both the Empire 8 and ECAC.
Another first-team ECAC Upstate NY all-star, Koppel spent two seasons with the soccer program (she’s also a state champion and NCAA qualifier in the heptathlon as a member of Ithaca’s track & field team), earning first-team Empire 8 all-star honors this season. Koppel scored 27 points this season on 11 goals and five assists. With 40 points in 39 career games, she ranks 14th all-time at Ithaca with 1.03 points per game. Despite playing just two seasons, she ranks 24th all-time in scoring and 20th in goals.
The Bombers finished 16-5-2 and reached the quarterfinal round of the NCAA playoffs for the third year in a row. Ithaca won the Empire 8 regular-season and postseason tournament titles and made the program’s 20th trip to the NCAA playoffs (no school has made more).
Complete NSCAA East Region All-Star Team