PULLMAN, Wash. –  Closing the books on their 2016 season, the Washington State women's soccer team hosted its annual banquet this past weekend, handing out team awards while honoring their seniors and the rest of the team for the work put in throughout the 2016 campaign. 

Throughout the night the Cougars handed out awards of accomplishment to their 10 student-athletes who took home Pac-12 All-Academic honors a list that included All-Academic First Team honoree, Susie White. White was honored for the third-time in her career, taking home all-academic awards in every season eligible while at WSU. In addition to White, Sofia Anker-Kofoed was a second-team pick while honorable mention honors went to Chelsea Harkins, Kelsee Crenshaw, Maegan O'Neill, Maddy Haro, Grace Hancock, Nicolle Marlow, Kaitlyn Johnson, Jordan Branch and Ella Dederick.

On the field, the Cougs received a pair of All-Pac 12 awards from season's end with Johnson earning second team honors and Morgan Weaver being named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team.

Weaver was also named the Cougars' Offensive MVP for her play during her freshman season. In 2016, Weaver led the team with eight goals and chipped in one assist for a team-best 17 points. Of her eight goals, three were game-winners as she netted the deciding strike against North Dakota State, Seattle, and Arizona State. She nearly led the Cougs to victory over TCU on Sept. 9 when she scored the game-tying goal in the 89th minute of what would go down as a double-overtime draw despite playing a woman down for the game's final 40 minutes.

While Weaver led the way on the offensive end, White was honored as the team's Defensive MVP as the senior started all 19 games for WSU in 2016. Led by White, the Cougs came up with four shutouts in 2016 and gave up just 21 goals. In her career, White started 71 contests and led the team in minutes played in each of the last three seasons. Her defenses recorded 23 shutouts in her 71 starts while she added two career goals and one career assist.

One of the top young players wearing the Crimson and Gray, Alysha Overland, was named the Cougs' Newcomer of the Year. Alongside of Weaver as the team's 1-2 punch, Overland scored six goals in her first season at WSU. Even more impressive was the fact that four of Overland's six goals led the Cougs to victory as she came up with game-winners against Santa Clara, Montana, Boise Sate, and rival Washington. Her goal against the Huskies extended the Cougs' unbeaten streak against the team from the west to 13 games. In addition to her goals, Overland came up with a pair of assists to finish the year with 14 points, second most on the team.

For her work in the classroom, redshirt senior Alexis Thode was named the Cougar Scholar, an award that goes to the player who had the team's highest cumulative GPA. Thode graduated from WSU in December with a pair of degrees in kinesiology and psychology. She boasted a 3.9 GPA during her time at WSU while coming up with a perfect 4.0 in her final semester. Upon graduation, Thode enrolled at Northwestern Health Sciences University to pursue a post-graduate degree in chiropractics.

Rounding out the night's awards was the team's Coug Award Winner, voted on by the entire team and given to the player that values the team before themselves while exemplifying what it truly means to be a Cougar. The award was given to Lianna Simms as she provided leadership and guidance to younger teammates on a daily basis and always valued the success of her teammates and the team before her own individual achievements. Her selflessness and compassion for others made her an irreplaceable member of the team. Not only did she handle all of her leadership roles, she did so while maintaining a perfect 4.0 GPA during fall semester.

Finally, the Cougs said their formal goodbyes to their senior class with eight Cougar seniors ending their careers in a Washington State uniform. The eight seniors, Kailiana Johnson, Kaitlyn Johnson, Jazmin Jones, Nicolle Marlow, Amy Neal, Lianna Simms, Alexis Thode, and Susie White, were a part of 46 victories and three NCAA appearances.