University of Tennessee Athletics
LADY VOLS CLAIM POST-SEASON ACCOLADES FROM SOCCER BUZZ MAGAZINE
February 06, 2003 | Soccer
Feb. 6, 2003
NEW YORK, N.Y.
Sophomore Keeley Dowling (Carmel, Ind.) headlined a quartet of Lady Vol soccer players included within the year-end awards released by Soccer Buzz Magazine on Thursday night. Already named to the 2002 National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/adidas Division I All-America Team issued in December, Dowling added to her cache of honors when she was selected as a first-team All-American and a first-team All-Central Region choice by the publication. Junior forward Rhian Wilkinson (Baie d'Urfe, Quebec) joined her teammate as a first-team All-Central pick, while sophomore midfielder Kayla Lockaby (Hamilton, Ohio) and senior forward Kim Patrick (Pleasanton, Calif.) were chosen to the third team.
Previously, UT had been rewarded for the best season in the program's seven-year existence by finishing in the Top 10 of the final polls released by the NSCAA/adidas and Soccer Buzz Magazine. Under the direction of third-year head coach Angela Kelly, Tennessee compiled an 18-6-1 overall record and claimed its first Southeastern Conference Tournament title en route to its initial appearance in the Sweet 16 of the Women's College Cup.
A first-team All-Central Region recipient from the NSCAA in both of her campaigns in Big Orange Country, as well as a key player for the United States Under-19 National Team which claimed the inaugural FIFA World Championship in Canada last summer, Dowling became the first Lady Vol since the team debuted in 1996 to be chosen to an All-America squad.
A standout in the back for the Orange and White, who registered a school-record-tying seven shutouts last fall, Dowling earned all-tournament accolades at the Clemson/Nike Invitational, the Santa Clara adidas Classic and at the SEC Tournament. She was responsible for the Golden Goal late in the second overtime as the Lady Vols upended six-time defending champion Florida, 2-1, to claim their first league crown.
A first-team All-SEC selection after being chosen to the second squad as a rookie, Dowling was selected to Elite Teams of the Week released by Soccer America and Soccer Buzz Magazine this year and was later tabbed as the edsouth Lady Vol Athlete of the Month for November after helping UT to a school-best nine-match unbeaten streak. Despite missing the Lady Vols' first two contests of the season due to her National Team obligations, Dowling started 23 matches in the back and totaled 12 points on five goals and two assists. She was a second-team All-Central choice by Soccer Buzz as a rookie and now joins Sue Flamini (Cranford, N.J.) and Patrick as first-team honorees, as both of her teammates made the top squad in 2001.
Back at full strength after suffering a broken left foot in September 2001, Wilkinson ranked among the SEC leaders in scoring throughout the campaign. The forward occupied the second spot in league statistics in points (14) and goals (five) and was third with four assists in the nine conference matchups. With 31 points on eight goals and a school-record 15 assists, she also equaled Patrick's standard for points in a single season by a Lady Vol junior.
In 2000, when she was chosen as the SEC's Freshman of the Year, Wilkinson carted home three different awards from Soccer Buzz. In addition to being selected to the organization's second-team Freshman All-America unit, she also earned second-team All-Central honors and was chosen All-Freshman Central Region.
Wilkinson stepped up her play down the stretch of the regular season by scoring in her last four contests, including a Golden Goal against Georgia that clinched the Orange's first Eastern Division crown. She was chosen as the league's Player of the Week after leading the Lady Vols to a road sweep of Mississippi State and Ole Miss over Oct. 25-27. On that weekend, she became the initial UT player to reach 20 goals and 20 assists. She has now accumulated 69 points on 22 goals and 25 helpers, pulling her closer to Laura Lauter Smith's chart-topping 75 points. In UT's first-ever NCAA victory, a 5-0 blanking of Furman, she set up her club's first two scores.
In her second season at Tennessee after transferring from the University of North Carolina, Patrick's name was consistently listed among the league leaders throughout her time in Knoxville. The striker occupied the third spot in league statistics in points (13) with four goals and five helpers in the nine conference outings and was tabbed second-team All-SEC. With 33 points on 12 goals and nine assists, she now holds the top spot in points and goals in a single season by a Lady Vol senior and wound up pacing her club in scoring for two straight years.
Patrick was one of 15 finalists for the Missouri Athletic Club's Hermann Trophy for men and women, awarded to the top players in NCAA Division I soccer. In her two years in Big Orange Country following her arrival from Chapel Hill, the striker totaled 64 points on 24 goals and 16 assists to rank fourth on Tennessee's all-time list in both goals and points.
Coming off a stellar sophomore campaign in which she tallied 23 points on eight goals and seven assists to rank third on the scoring chart, Lockaby picked up third-team All-Central Region kudos. As a rookie, the midfielder had registered a mere seven points on a couple of goals and three helpers. She solved the Murray State defense three times on Sept. 8 to produce her initial hat trick as a Lady Vol and produce the first three-goal effort at the UT Soccer Complex since Wilkinson accomplished the feat on Sept. 10, 2000.
Undoubtedly, the highlight of Lockaby's season occurred in the second round of the Women's College Cup on Nov. 17, when she snapped a 1-1 deadlock with 4:59 remaining in regulation to propel the 11th-ranked Lady Vols to a 2-1 triumph over No. 22 Cincinnati. With yet another overtime looming, which would have been Tennessee's 10th of the season, sophomore Lyndsey Patterson (Puyallup, Wash.) sent a cross from the right wing to the back post that Lockaby connected on with her left foot for her eighth goal of the season at 85:01. The midfielder led the Orange with four match-winners in 2002.
TENNESSEE'S SOCCER BUZZ AWARD RECIPIENTS
| Natalie Balash | Third-Team First-Year Programs 1996 |
| Kelly Berrall | Second-Team All-Central Region 2000 |
| Third-Team All-Central Region 1999 | |
| Allison Campbell | Third-Team All-Central Region 1999 |
| Second-Team Freshman All-America 1998 | |
| Second-Team All-Central Region 1998 | |
| All-Freshman Central Region 1998 | |
| Melissa Covington | First-Team First-Year Programs 1996 |
| Keeley Dowling | First-Team All-America 2002 |
| First-Team All-Central Region 2002 | |
| Second-Team Freshman All-America 2001 | |
| Second-Team All-Central Region 2001 | |
| All-Freshman Central Region 2001 | |
| Sue Flamini | Honorable Mention All-America 2001 |
| Freshman of the Year Finalist 2001 | |
| First-Team Freshman All-America 2001 | |
| First-Team All-Central Region 2001 | |
| All-Freshman Central Region 2001 | |
| Kassie Kees | Third-Team All-Central Region 1998 |
| Second-Team All-Central Region 1997 | |
| Holly Kimble | Second-Team First-Year Programs 1996 |
| Kayla Lockaby | Third-Team All-Central Region 2002 |
| Kendyl Michner | Third-Team All-Central Region 1997 |
| Kim Patrick | Third-Team All-Central Region 2002 |
| First-Team All-Central Region 2001 | |
| Laura Lauter Smith | Second-Team All-Central Region 1998 |
| Rhian Wilkinson | First-Team All-Central Region 2002 |
| Second-Team Freshman All-America 2000 | |
| Second-Team All-Central Region 2000 | |
| All-Freshman Central Region 2000 |
