Rio women put five on All-RSC teams
Rio Grande/RSC Sports Information
OXFORD, Ohio - The University of Rio Grande placed five players on the 2025 River States Conference Women's Soccer All-Conference Teams, which were recently announced by league officials.
Senior defender Hannah Halstead (Delaware, OH) and senior midfielder Jitske De Muijnk (Nymegen, The Netherlands) represented the RedStorm on the First Team, while senior midfielder Carmen Morris (Lancaster, OH) was named to the Second Team and the duo of senior midfielder Sara Estrada Fernandez (Barcelona, Spain) and freshman forward Neveah Peffers (Dresden, OH) were Third Team selections.
Halstead was regarded as one of the top lockdown defenders in the league, while De Muijnk led Rio with eight assists and 16 points.
Morris finished with a team-high five goals, while Estrada Fernandez had three goals and Peffers finished with three goals and an assist.
Rio Grande finished its season with an 8-6-5 record after a loss to IU East in the quarterfinal round of the RSC Championship.
Each all-conference team consists of two goalkeepers, four defenders, four midfielders, and four forwards. Ties were all placed on the same team and a spot from the following team was removed.
The teams were selected via a vote of conference head coaches.
After winning their second consecutive RSC championship, Oakland City University was the most recognized team in the league, placing eight players on the All-Conference rosters and five on the first team.
Brescia and IU East followed with six total selections, while IU Kokomo had the second most players on the first team at three.
Ten of the league's 11 teams had at least one player recognized among the 42 honored, with eight placing multiple players on the rosters. Six different teams - the six that qualified for the River States Conference Tournament - had players named First Team at their position.
Joining Halstead and De Muijnk on the First Team were goalkeepers Alicia Garwood of Oakland City and Kailee Moore from IU Kokomo; defenders
Kalissa Jackson-Dietzer from IU Kokomo, Oakland City's Cassandre Thuillier and Ava Wittrock of IU East; midfielders Kaiya Bogers from IU Kokomo; Brescia's Allana Colen Porto, Rocio Gutierrez of WVU Tech and Oakland City's Jana Mueller; forwards Norka Fergusson and Macey Woolcock from Oakland City, WVU-Tech's Julia Silva and Ana Victorica of Brescia.
Along with Morris, the Second Team included goalkeepers Zoe Bippus of IU Columbus and Sandra Garcia Quilez from WVU Tech; defenders Geneva Hann from Brescia, WVU-Tech's Sophie Quinlan, Isabelle Riddle of Shawnee State, IU East's Vanessa Temple and Pauline Vinciguerra from Oakland City; midfielders Maya Diceanu and Zaryah Griffin of IU East; forwards Asia Espiritu from IU East, Nora Martin-Mora Segura of WVU Tech, IU Kokomo's Avery Wilson and Kaja Zupanic from Brescia.
Fernandez and Peffers were joined on the Third Team by goalkeepers Elizabeth Sarfo-Benson from IU East and Laura Thompson of Brescia; defenders Oda Aksnes of WVU Tech, St. Mary-of-the-Woods' Carley Balas and Miriam Tomanova from Brescia; midfielders Lily Campbell of IU Columbus, Madison Culp from Shawnee State and Oakland City's Sara Espinosa; and forwards Lucie Ashkettle of Shawnee State, Oakland City's Camilla Bedin and Sloane Pollock from Midway.
Mueller was named Player & Offensive Player of the Year, while Oakland City's Jamie Bladen won Coach of the Year honors for the second year in a row.
Moore was honored as Defensive Player of the Year, with Gutierrez earning Newcomer of the Year honors.
Additionally, the RSC also announced the athletes recognized as their program's Champion of Character.
Each team in each River States Conference-sponsored sport is asked to nominate one athlete as their Champion of Character.
These student-athletes best represent the NAIA's Champions of Character program and its five core values of Respect, Responsibility, Integrity, Servant Leadership and Sportsmanship.
Rio's representative on the list was senior Azyiah Williams (Ripley, OH).