Awards Coming in for Falcons After Winning State Soccer Title
The postseason accolades are rolling in for Folsom Lake College's women's soccer team.
It was recently announced that the team had four Big 8 All-Conference players, a pair of all-American and all-region players, plus a Scholar all-American.
The Big 8 All-Conference players included Destin Armstrong, Olivia Chimienti, Addisyn Barnum and Alexia Chavez.
Armstrong, a freshman defender from Rocklin High School, played in and started 10 of the 11 conference games and scored one goal.
"Destin was a super consistent defender, as she played both outside back and center back," Folsom Lake coach Donny Ribaudo said. "She's really athletic with a ton of speed and composure on the ball. She's a competitor who played a significant part of our playoff run. Destin solidified the defense because she's able to cover a lot of ground and cut out dangerous attacks by reading the game and using her speed."
Chimienti, a sophomore forward from Oak Ridge, played in all 11 conference games, starting seven, and had a goal and four assists.
"Olivia played two positions for us, outside back and outside forward," Ribaudo said. "She's really technical and plays with good pace. She's able to break down defenders one-v-one, get around the corner to the end line and from there set up teammates. She set up the equalizer for us in the semis versus Chaffey. She was able to get isolated and was dangerous in the attack and she did that countless times this season."
Barnum and Chavez were sophomore midfielders from West Campus and from River City high schools, respectively. Barnum started all 11 conference games and scored once and had five assists. Chavez started 10-of-11 conference games and also had one goal and two assists. Barnum was also the team's Scholar All American, as she's a Biology major with a 3.9 GPA.
"Addisyn and Lex were both holding center midfielders for us and full-time starters," Ribaudo said. "They're both so steady with the work that they do. They cover a lot of ground; they support the team in terms of work ethic, communicating and leadership. They lead by example. Lex is more versatile; she likes to get involved in the attack. She's technical on the ball and creates space. She scored an important goal for us to help us get into the second round.
"Addisyn is a mindful player who reads the game well. She's able to make adjustments while the match is going on. She uses her critical thinking to make decisions on her own and coordinates other players to help her defensively."
Finally, the all-American and All-Regional players were Tea Reyes, a freshman from Ponderosa High School and Chavez. Reyes played in 23 games, starting 17 of them, and scored nine goals and had 11 assists.
"Tea really evolved a lot throughout the season," Ribaudo said. "She gradually improved and tried hard to learn her role and responsibilities as a center forward. She did a great job of receiving balls to goal and absorbing pressure to her back and then she would lay balls off to teammates. She started to become more comfortable and stepped up her game during the Final Four by scoring some big goals."
Chavez played in all 24 games for the Falcons, starting 22, and she scored five goals and added six assists.