SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Drake University women's soccer team, which claimed the 2017 Missouri Valley Conference regular season title, collected multiple MVC honors Thursday night at the MVC women's soccer awards banquet in Springfield, Mo.
 
Drake redshirt senior Rebecca Rodgers (Peotone, Ill.) was named the MVC Player of the Year for the second time in her career. Seniors Haley Morris (Clive, Iowa) and Ali Smith (Lenexa, Kan.) were selected the MVC Goalkeeper and Defensive Player of the Year, respectively. Freshman Hannah Bormann (Amana, Iowa) was picked the MVC Freshman of the Year. Head coach Lindsey Horner and her staff claimed the MVC Coaching Staff of the Year award.
 
Morris, Rodgers and Smith are on the All-MVC First Team while junior Alyssa Brand (Skokie, Ill.) and seniors Kasey Hurt (Ankeny, Iowa) and Brooke Salisbury (Kearney, Mo.) were named to the All-MVC Second Team. Senior Rachel Wanninger garnered All-MVC Honorable Mention accolades.
 
For the fifth-straight season, Drake has two first-year student-athletes tabbed to the MVC All-Freshman team as Bormann and Olivia Bruce (Lakeville, Minn.) earned the honors in 2017.
 
Rodgers added another Player of the Year award to her resume after she earned the honor in 2015. She is just the fourth player in league history to be named Player of the Year twice. Rodgers, who is Drake's all-time goals scorer and ranks fifth all-time in MVC history, has 39 goals. She is a four-time All-MVC selection, who was second team as a freshman and first team in 2014 and 2015. Rodgers with 92 points needs one more point to become Drake's all-time leader in that category.
 
Morris is the second Bulldog goalkeeper to earn the top MVC goalkeeper award. In her first season as the team's primary goalkeeper, she started 17 of 18 matches and recorded six shutouts and tallied 89 saves. Morris' 12 wins this year are tied for the single season program-high for a goalkeeper. The All-MVC honor is the first of her career.
 
Smith is the third player in school history to be named MVC Defensive Player of the Year. She started 18 matches at the defender position, scored two goals and handed out a team-high four assists. Smith netted a golden goal to beat Illinois State, which clinched the regular season title for the Bulldogs. This is her second All-MVC accolade after she received All-MVC Honorable Mention accolades in 2016.
 
Bormann played in 18 matches in her first season. She is just the second Bulldog to be named MVC Freshman of the Year as she joined Bulldog great Andrea Schmitz (2002). Bormann scored three goals, recorded four assists and was named MVC Newcomer of the Week twice.
 
Brand earned her third career All-MVC honors after being named second team last season and honorable mention in 2015. She played in 17 matches, scored two goals and handed out a team-high four assists. Brand's two goals came in the Illinois State match. This is the first career All-MVC honor for Hurt, who started 17 of 18 matches at defender, scored one goal and handed out three assists. Her 16 career assists rank fourth all-time in program history. Salisbury, a stalwart in the Bulldogs' midfield, earned her second career All-MVC accolades after being named honorable mention last year. She started 18 matches, scored one goal and tallied two assists. Wanninger collected her first All-MVC honor after she played in 18 matches, scored three goals and handed out three assists.
 
Bruce joined Bormann on the MVC All-Freshman. The Lakeville, Minn., native played in 14 matches, scored two goals and had two assists and was named MVC Newcomer of the Week on Oct. 30.
 
The Drake coaching staff helped lead Drake to its sixth MVC regular-season title and second in the past three seasons. Horner is in her 10th season as head coach after serving as assistant coach for five seasons with the Bulldogs. Assistant coach Kevin Brennan and goalkeepers coach Hugo Macedo are in their second seasons with the program. Volunteer coach and Drake women's soccer alumna Niki Zelenovich (Thaden) is in her first season.
 
Drake plays UNI in the MVC Tournament semifinals on Friday at 3:30 p.m. The Bulldogs are vying to win their second-ever MVC Tournament title and claim the MVC's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. Friday's match will be broadcast on The Valley on ESPN3.