BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The 2023 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) women's soccer award winners were announced on Tuesday and the MASCAC regular season champion Bears of Bridgewater State University picked up some hardware.
Head Coach Yasmina Carvalho was voted by her peers as the BSN Sports MASCAC Coach of the Year, while five Bears garnered All-MASCAC honors.
Senior defender Sydney Dewhurst (East Bridgewater, Mass.) was selected to the All-MASCAC First Team while sophomore midfielders Abigail Shea (Somerset, Mass.) and Jenna Sweeney (Wilmington, Mass.), sophomore forward Olivia Robarge (Pepperell, Mass.), and sophomore goalkeeper Logan Levesque (Bristol, R.I.) were chosen to the All-MASCAC Second Team.
Dewhurst, Shea, Sweeney and Robarge are making their first appearance on the All-MASCAC Team while Levesque was also a second team selection a year ago. The coach of the year award marks the third of Carvalho's career as she also garnered the honor in 2016 and 2018.
Carvalho guided the Bears to their first MASCAC regular season title since 2017 and first outright crown since 2006. The Bears (11-6-1) went unbeaten in conference play during the regular season with a perfect 7-0 MASCAC mark.
Carvalho sports a career coaching mark of 86-66-16 (.560) in 10 years on the BSU sidelines including a conference regular season record of 45-13-5 (.754). She has reached the ten-win mark five times including each of the last two seasons. Carvalho's 86-win total is the second highest in program history trailing only Andrea Zeigler O’Connor who amassed 96 wins from 1999 to 2009.
Dewhurst tallied ten goals and six assists for 26 points in 18 games (all starts) this season as she led the Bears in all three categories as well as game-winning goals with four. The East Bridgewater, Massachusetts native is tied for the MASCAC lead in game-winning goals, ranks third in both goals and scoring, and is tied for fourth in assists.
In 27 games over two seasons with the Bears, Dewhurst has amassed 13 goals (five game-winners) and nine assists for 35 points.
Shea, who hails from Somerset, Massachusetts, appeared in 18 games with 17 starts during the 2023 campaign and scored a goal which was also a game-winner. Shea has appeared in 36 career games over her first two seasons with three goals and three assists for nine points. Two of her three career goals have been game-winners.
Sweeney scored a pair of goals for four points in 18 games this season including 15 starts. The Wilmington, Massachusetts native has three goals and an assist for seven points in 36 career games over her first two seasons in a BSU uniform.
Robarge recorded six goals and two assists for 14 points in 18 games (17 starts) in 2023. The Pepperell, Massachusetts product is tied for fifth in the MASCAC with two game-winning goals and is tied for sixth in goals. She is also eighth among the conference leaders in scoring.
Over her first two seasons at Bridgewater State, Robarge checks in with eight goals and two assists for 18 points in 36 career games with three game-winning goals.
In 16 games (all starts) between the pipes for the Bears this season, Levesque went 10-5-1 with six solo shutouts and a 1.10 goals against average in 1,393-plus (1393:47) minutes of work. She turned aside 84 shots and recorded an .832 save percentage. The Bristol, Rhode Island native leads all MASCAC goaltenders in minutes played, goal against average, wins and shutouts and is tied for the conference lead in appearances and starts. She also ranks third in save percentage and sixth in saves.
In 32 games (all starts) over her first two seasons with the Bears, Levesque is 20-10-2 with 13 career shutouts, 167 saves and an .815 save percentage. She has also posted a 1.21 goals against average to date in 2,831-plus (2831:47) minutes of action.