Pucci Tabbed All-BIG EAST Third Team
Tavana Named BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year; Pucci Tabbed All-BIG EAST Third Team - Seton Hall University Athletics
Junior midfielder Natalie Tavana (Middletown, Conn.) has been named BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year and a unanimous All-BIG EAST First Team selecti...
South Orange, N.J. — Junior midfielder Natalie Tavana (Middletown, Conn.) has been named BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year and a unanimous All-BIG EAST First Team selection, the conference office announced Wednesday.
Junior defender Chiara Pucci (Munich, Germany) was named All-BIG EAST Third Team. It's the first time since 2013 that Seton Hall has had multiple All-BIG EAST honorees.
Tavana is the first Pirate to be named BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year since SHU Athletics Hall of Famer Kelly Smith won the award in 1999. The league's awards and all-conference teams are voted on by the BIG EAST's head coaches. Coaches cannot vote for their own players.
Tavana's conference honors caps off a historic season that hasn't been seen in South Orange in roughly 20 years. She finished as the BIG EAST's goal scoring champion, pacing the conference with 12 goals overall and five goals in conference play. Her 26 points (12 goals, two assists) ranked second in the BIG EAST.
Tavana was a constant threat on offense all year, tallying 3.00 shots per game, the third-highest mark in the league. Her individual performances included the first hat trick for Seton Hall since 2006, and a three-game goal streak from Sept. 24 to Oct. 1. With her efforts this season the Pirates were able to collect their most points in the BIG EAST standings since 2011.
In the Seton Hall record books, Tavana's 12 goals and 26 points are the most in a single season since Smith's 1999 campaign when she registered a whopping 27 goals and 62 points, both program records. Tavana is the first Pirate to be named All-BIG EAST first team in 10 years when Ashley Clarke was named to the league's top team in 2013.
Pucci led the Pirates with 1,605 minutes played and she started in all 18 matches this past season at center back. She anchored a defense that posted six shutouts and she also finished with two assists, the first assists of her career. A team captain, Pucci helped guide the Pirates to its most points in a BIG EAST season since 2011 and finish just one win short of its first BIG EAST tournament appearance in 12 years.
