CLEMSON, S.C. – Senior defender Sam Staab has been named the 2018 Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year, as announced by the conference office on Thursday afternoon. A total of four Tigers, Staab, Sandy MacIver, Mariana Speckmaier and Miranda Weslake, earned All-ACC accolades for the 2018 season.
Staab has helped the Tigers to a 12-7 overall record and a fifth-place ACC regular-season finish at 6-4. The senior defender from San Diego, Calif. is a key component to the Tiger backline that has a goals against average of 0.83 along with nine shutouts on the year, three against ranked opponents. She has also assisted on 11 goals, leading the league in assists in ACC matches, and ranking second in that category for all matches of 2018. Staab has a total of 33 assists in her career as a Tiger, good for fourth in the program’s record book. Staab is also a member of the All-ACC First Team, which gives her her fourth consecutive All-ACC honor.
Mariana Speckmaier earned Second Team All-ACC honors this season, after being a member of the ACC’s All-Freshman Team in 2017. Speckmaier leads the Tiger team in scoring with 21 points, on 10 goals and one assist. Six of her 10 goals have been game-winners, ranking first in the ACC and tied for fourth nationally in that category. The sophomore forward from Miami, Fla. scored the game-winning goal in two of the Tigers’ three upsets over ranked opponents this season, No. 4 Virginia and No. 19 Boston College.
Redshirt senior Miranda Weslake has had her best season in a Clemson uniform in 2018, as she has 19 points on eight goals and three assists and has earned Third Team All-ACC honors. The forward from Beaufort, S.C. started off her final season in style, as she scored the game-winner in the 89th minute in the season opener at Oregon and netted two goals in the 4-2 win over Indiana. Weslake’s 19 points put her second on the Tiger team in scoring.
Goalkeeper Sandy MacIver was also named to the Third Team All-ACC, the first all-conference honor of her career. The junior from Winsford, England has 47 saves, a .797 save percentage, a 0.79 goals allowed average and 10 wins in her 15 matches in net for the Tigers so far this season. Of MacIver’s 10 wins, eight were clean sheets. Her shutouts per game figure of 0.53 ranks second in the conference while her eight solo shutouts are tied for second. The two-year starter is fourth in the Clemson record book with 13 career shutouts.
CLEMSON’S 2018 ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE AWARD WINNERS
Defensive Player of the Year – Sam Staab
All-ACC First Team
Sam Staab
All-ACC Second Team
Mariana Speckmaier
All-ACC Third Team
Sandy MacIver
Miranda Weslake
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