Dec. 9, 2005
Senior defender Christen Karniski (Iowa City, Iowa) was named a second team All-American by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America today, marking the first All-America honor of her career.
Karniski is one of four Big Ten players on the NSCAA All-America team, joining Penn State's Tiffany Weimer, Ali Krieger and Erin McLeod, who were all named to the first team. National champion Portland dominated the first team, placing four players on the squad, led by Player of the Year candidate Christine Sinclair and Lindsey Huie, both four-time honorees.
"For Christen to get the national recognition is great because she has done so much for this program," Illinois head coach Janet Rayfield said. "And this year, especially, people across the conference and across the country started to realize what an anchor she was for our defense and what a threat she was offensively. And it says a lot about all of the aspects and elements of our program because they all contribute into developing someone with Christen's natural abilities into someone who can compete and be recognized on a national level."
The recognition by the NSCAA comes on the heels of Karniski being named Big Ten co-Defensive Player of the Year at the Big Ten awards banquet prior to the conference tournament. She helped lead an Illini defense that allowed only 24 goals on the season, the third-fewest in school history, and gave up a school-record low 51 corner kicks.
Karniski started every game and played every minute of the season, never getting a break in 2,085 minutes. For her career, she started all 89 games Illinois played - a school record - and saw action in 7,710 minutes out of a possible 8,265 (93 percent). This season, Karniski also scored one goal and assisted on five for seven points.
While this is her first purely athletic All-America nod, it is not Karniski's first postseason award. She earned All-Great Lakes Region recognition by the NSCAA and Soccer Buzz in 2004, and was second team All-Big Ten the same year. Karniski was also named a third team NSCAA Scholar All-American in 2004, as well as a Scholar All-North/Central Region that year. In addition, she is a three-time CoSIDA Academic All-District first team selection.
