Pacific Women's Soccer: Tigers Place Five on the 2009 All-Big West Conference List
Figueroa and junior Kylee Ah Choy (Mililani, Hawaii) earned spots on the First Team All-Big West list, while sophomore Kristina Wavomba (Encinitas, Calif.) secured second team honors. Rounding out the final two were Honorable Mention All-Big West recipients sophomore Alex Topp (San Diego, Calif.) and freshman Maricela Padilla (San Jose, Calif.). The complete release from the Big West Conference is available here.
Figueroa closed out the season by sealing her name in the record books for single-season records in assists (6th, 8), shots (10th, 52) and game-winning goals (6th, 3). Her 52 shots were good for fourth overall in the Big West Conference. Similarly, Angelica's eight assists alone were tops in conference, establishing her as the best play-maker in the Big West. Nationally, Figueroa's 0.42 assists per game were good to be 49th best among all Division I programs. Twice this season, Figueroa recorded multiple-goal matches against Portland State on Aug. 28 and Fresno State on Sept. 18. Appearing in all 19 games this year, Angelica tallied six total goals and led the team in points with 20, which solidified her for the third-most points in the entire conference. She also landed the Tigers' only penalty kick of the season against Air Force on Sept. 27. For her play this season, she was also singled out as the conference's midfielder of the year.
Ah Choy front-lined the Tiger defense in all 19 games this season and accounted for a major component of a defense that allowed only 17 goals in 19 contests, including seven shutouts. Kylee and her defensive teammates limited opponents to 0.89 goals per game, as Pacific convincingly out-shot its opponents 285-170, with opponents shooting a meager 82 on goal. Offensively, Ah Choy had her hand in three goals, notching three assists on the year. She did so against the 2007 national champion USC on Sept. 25, the following game against Air Force on Sept. 27 and finally in the Tigers' game-winning goal against UC Davis with 34 seconds on the clock on Oct. 18. Her three assists were third best on the Tiger roster in 2009.
As the sole second team recipient for the Tigers this year, Wavomba followed up her 2008 Freshman of the Year campaign by amassing four goals, four assists, 12 points and 44 shots in all 19 games this season. In the Big West Conference, Kristina finished eighth among all players in shots, averaging 2.32 per game. Her four assists put her in ninth among all Big West players, as she averaged 0.21 per game. Wavomba also had a hand in the Tigers' two goals against USC, as she recorded two assists in that contest on Sept. 25. Her other two assists came against Fresno State on Sept. 18 and at UC Riverside on Oct. 30.
Making a strong case for freshman of the year, Padilla finished the season with honorable mention after suffering a season-ending injury during the Tigers' 1-0 defeat at Long Beach State on Oct. 1. While only serving in 12 games, missing all but one conference match, Maricela paced Pacific with eight goals, two assists, 18 points and 45 shots. Her break-out performance came during the Tigers' road trip to Hawaii from Sept. 5-6. Against UAB in a neutral site contest, Padilla landed her first goal of the season, then followed it up the following day with a two-goal performance against Hawai'i, for the Tigers' first-ever victory at Hawai'i. In her final game of the season, Padilla landed her eighth goal minutes before going down with an injury. In the Big West Conference she finished sixth overall in shots, finished with the most shots per game in the Big West with a 3.75 average, fifth in points, second in points per game (1.5), fourth in goals and second in goals per game (0.67) as a freshman.
Pacific's final honorable mention recipient is Topp. Topp was a force for the Tigers defensively winning nearly every header in her direction and served in 18 contests. She closed out her sophomore campaign with three goals for six points, on 25 shots. Alex's most convincing goal of the year came against UC Davis on Oct. 18, when she stopped the match from going into overtime, landing the Tigers' game-winning goal in the game's final 34 seconds of play. Topp's other two goals came earlier in the season against Portland State on Aug. 28 and against national powerhouse USC on Sept. 25.