Senior trio earns All-Region honors

ORANGE, Calif. – For the first time since 2012, the Chapman University women's soccer team had multiple All-Region selections from the United Soccer Coaches. Chapman had three players awarded on the All-West Region team.

Three seniors earned the recognition as Kelsey Bland and Riley Pidgeon landed on the First Team and Jessi Roux took a spot on the Third Team. All three earned All-Region honors for the first time in their careers.

The trio of honors marks just the fourth time since the 2000 season that the Panthers have had at least three players honored. Bland is just the third goalie in Chapman's Division III history to earn the All Region distinction, joining Marissa Fehrman from 2012 and two-time All-Region goalie Kim Rudloff (1998, 2000).

Bland was a First Team All-SCIAC goalkeeper this season, starting all but one match. She ended the season with a 1.12 goals against average and made 66 saves to help the Panthers to a third-place finish in the SCIAC. She posted five shutouts to move into a tie for second all-time at Chapman with 15 career shutouts.

Pidgeon had a breakout season in her final year, scoring 13 goals and assisting on two more. Her 13 goals in 2021 are tied for the fifth-most in a single season at Chapman and are the most for a Panther since 2004. She converted four penalty kicks to break the Chapman single season record, netted four game-winners and scored her first career hat trick in a win over Caltech.

Roux was an All-SCIAC Second Team selection, leading the Panthers in the midfield in 2021. The senior scored her first career goal in a win over UC Santa Cruz and scored the game-winner in a 2-1 win over Pomona-Pitzer. She assisted on a goal in Chapman's 3-0 win over La Verne.

The senior trio led Chapman to a 9-5-2 overall record and a 7-4-1 record in the SCIAC, placing them in third in the standings. The Panthers made the SCIAC Tournament for the second season in a row but fell to Cal Lutheran in the semifinals.

By Steven Olveda
Sports Information Director

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