BRENTWOOD, Tenn. - The Ohio Valley Conference announced its 2026 women's soccer award winners and All-Conference teams on Wednesday before the OVC Championship gets underway.
In a vote of league head coaches and communications directors, SIUE’s Claire Nieroda was named the 2026 Forward of the Year while the Eastern Illinois’ Amara Leppla earned Freshman of the Year. UT Martin collected four honors including Mac Titus earning Goalkeeper of the Year, Unni Wolf as Midfielder of the Year, Allie Carroll as Defender of the Year and Mike Varga was tabbed Coach of the Year.
The league announced an 11-member All-OVC first team and an 11-member second team as well as an All-Newcomer Team. UT Martin had the most combined first and second-team All-OVC selections with six, including three first-team picks. That was followed by Eastern Illinois (4), Lindenwood (3), SIUE (2), Southeast Missouri (2), Western Illinois (2), Morehead State (1) and Southern Indiana (1).
Nieroda scored nine goals and had seven assists on the year, including five goals and three assists in conference play. The sophomore tallied two game-winning goals while playing 581 minutes in seven league contests. She was honored as OVC Player of the Week twice this season.
Wolf recorded four goals on the year, two coming in OVC play. The junior shot 39 percent with 14 of her 37 shots on goal. The midfielder played a total of 564 minutes in seven OVC games.
Carroll notched three goals and one assist on the season, with her lone goal in conference play came as the game-winner in the season finale, which propelled UT Martin to the OVC regular season title. The junior amassed 1,620 minutes over 18 games. Carroll, along with Lindenwood All-OVC first team selection Peyton Johnson, were the only two conference non-goalkeepers to play every second of their team’s matches. The third-year was named OVC Defensive Player of the Week on three occasions.
Titus was in net for all 630 minutes of the seven conference games for UTM and posted a 4-1-2 record with five shutouts. The 5th year was one of only three OVC keepers to play full time in all their team’s matches. Titus had three goals against for a 0.43 goals against average and collected 24 saves for an .889 save percentage. On the season, she finished with eight clean sheets and a 0.67 goals against average. Titus earned four OVC Player of the Week honors.
Leppla scored four goals and had two assists in OVC play, while finishing the season with five goals and three assists. The freshman produced a four-goal scoring streak, beginning with the Panthers lone goal in their final non-conference contest, a 1-3 loss at Marquette. She followed with goals against SIUE, Western Illinois and Lindenwood. Leppla played for 477 minutes in seven conference games.
Varga led the Skyhawks to their sixth OVC regular season championships, first since 2021. UTM finished conference play going 4-1-2 while tying for the lead in the OVC with three goals against (0.43/game). This is the fourth-year head coaches first honor.
2026 OVC Women’s Soccer Awards
OVC Forward of the Year: Claire Nieroda, SIUE
OVC Midfielder of the Year: Unni Wolf, UT Martin
OVC Defender of the Year: Allie Carroll, UT Martin
OVC Goalkeeper of the Year: Mac Titus, UT Martin
OVC Freshman of the Year: Amara Leppla, Eastern Illinois
OVC Coach of the Year: Mike Varga, UT Martin
ALL-OVC FIRST TEAM
GK – Mac Titus, 5th – UT Martin
F – Amara Leppla, Fr. – Eastern Illinois
F – Mackenzie Compton, Jr. – Lindenwood
F – Claire Nieroda, So. – SIUE
MF – Amelia Mundo, Sr. – Eastern Illinois
MF – Anna Johnson, Sr. – Lindenwood
MF – Unni Wolf, Jr. – UT Martin
D – Peyton Johnson, Fr. – Lindenwood
D – Olivia Klinkhardt, Jr. – Southeast Missouri
D – Allie Carroll, Jr. – UT Martin
At-Large – Taylor Cassidy, So. – Southeast Missouri
ALL-OVC SECOND TEAM
GK – Mahe-Lee Caron, So. – Western Illinois
F – Alex Tetteh, Sr. – Eastern Illinois
F – Tori Bockstadter, Jr. – SIUE
F – Peyton Cook, Sr. – UT Martin
MF – Ashton Lynam, Jr. – Morehead State
MF – Yaritza Trejo, - UT Martin
MF – Claire Brown, Sr. – Western Illinois
D – Colleen Bauer, Jr. – Eastern Illinois
D – Emma Schut, Jr. – Southern Indiana
D – Nasti Tanninen, Fr. – UT Martin
At-Large – Merrick Schwalbach, So. – Southern Indiana
ALL-NEWCOMER TEAM
Amara Leppla, F, Fr. – Eastern Illinois
Lauren Hale, GK, Fr. – Lindenwood
Peyton Johnson, D, Fr. – Lindenwood
Sam Steele, MF, Sr. – Lindenwood
Ashton Lynam, MF, Jr. – Morehead State
Taylor Cassidy, MF, So. – Southeast Missouri
Chloe Ouimet, D, So. – Southeast Missouri
Tori Bockstadter, F, Jr. – SIUE
Allie Carroll, D, Jr. – UT Martin
Nasti Tanninen, D, Fr. – UT Martin
Yaritza Trejo, MF, Sr. – UT Martin