Bridgewater, NJ -- With the 2026 NEC women's soccer regular season drawing to a close, the announcement of the 2026 NEC women's soccer major awards and All-Conference teams featured a series of winners from co-regular season champions Central Connecticut and FDU.

The Blue Devils took home three major awards, FDU claimed two, and Le Moyne won one.

FDU senior forward Ana Salas (Madrid, Spain/Liceo Italiano) took home NEC Offensive Player of the Year honors, becoming the second FDU forward to ever do so. The multi-time All-NEC selection tallied 33 points from 11 goals and 11 assists and was the sparkplug for an FDU attack that scored more goals than any other NEC side this season and the 11th most in the country (45). Her 22 goal involvements are the most in a season by an NEC player since NEC all-time great Tesa McKibben had 34 for SFU in 2013. Salas joined an exclusive group of league legends to reach at least 22 goal contributions in a season, standing alongside McKibben, Leah Blaney (CCSU), Andrea Lopez (Monmouth), Kirsten Van de Ven (Quinnipiac), Kelly Shimmin (CCSU), Christie Pierce (Monmouth) and others. The Madrid native's season was highlighted by a pair of hat tricks against Delaware State and Howard. She became the first NEC player to record multiple hat tricks in the same season since Wagner's Samantha Jensen did so in 2013. Salas closed her fourth regular season campaign ranked eighth nationally in points per game (2.06) and 13th in total points. Thanks in large part to the attacking duo of Salas and Marina Burzaco (Madrid, Spain/San Ignacio de Loyola), FDU went 14 matches without defeat; roughly two and a half months. Salas' 11 goals ranks second in the league and her 11 assists ranks first.

NEC Defensive Player of the Year honors were awarded to Central Connecticut's Gabrielle Smith (Manchester, CT/Manchester). The second consecutive CCSU defender to win the award and the eighth all-time, Smith joined a long line of Blue Devil backline stalwarts. She built upon her NEC Rookie of the Year campaign a season ago, establishing herself as one of the conference's top center backs. With the center back duo of Smith and Abigail Hansen (Bristol, CT/Bristol Central), CCSU allowed just 14 goals in 16 matches, the league's second best defensive record. Smith and the CCSU back line's best performance of the year came on Decision Day. With the No. 1 seed at stake in a clash against the high-powered FDU attack, Smith helped her team shut the Knights down in a 1-0 win, ending FDU's run of 21 regular season conference matches without defeat. 

CCSU's Riley Powers (Newtown, CT/Newtown) earned NEC Midfielder of the Year honors after a fantastic fourth season. Powers was the league's most heroic goal scorer, tallying a league-best five game-winning goals. Only 12 players in the nation had more match-winners than Powers. Two of the Newtown, CT product's game-winners came when her team needed it most. Against Stonehill, the Blue Devils needed to win in order to keep their hopes of the top seed alive. With the match level at one, Powers buried a goal to put her side ahead for good in the 69th minute. The next match-decider, and CCSU's most important goal of the season, came in the following bout on Decision Day. In the 29th minute, Powers hit an excellent strike from just outside the 18-yard box, bending into the left corner and giving her side a 1-0 lead they would never give up. Powers leads the Blue Devils with 17 points on seven goals and three assists in 2026, ranking fourth in the NEC in both categories.

FDU's Rosemarie Leblanc (Repentigny, Québec, Canada/École Saint-Gabriel) claimed the NEC Goalkeeper of the Year award after a spectacular campaign between the woodwork. The junior, along with All-NEC first teamer Elisa Garcia (Madrid, Spain), commanded the NEC's best defense, with the Knights allowing just 10 goals all season and only three in league play. Individually, Leblanc maintained a 0.59 goals against average, .865 save percentage and kept a league-best nine clean sheets. Leblanc's goals against average is the 23rd best in the country and her shutout tally is tied for 15th. She set career-best marks nearly every stat category and cemented her status amongst the NEC's elite goalkeepers.

Emma Sousa (East Longmeadow, MA/East Longmeadow) made history as Le Moyne's first-ever NEC major award winner, earning Rookie of the Year honors. Sousa ranks third in the league's golden boot race with eight goals, scoring nearly half of the Dolphins' tallies in 2026. The catalyst for a much-improved Le Moyne side, Sousa herself scored just one less goal individually than the Dolphins did in the entire 2025 season. Due in large part to the Longmeadow, MA native, Le Moyne was a playoff contender for the majority of the 2026 season, even climbing into the playoff places in the back half of the season. She wrapped her season tied for fourth on the circuit with 17 points.

For a league-record ninth time, CCSU veteran head coach Mick D'Arcy was named the NEC Coach of the Year. Now in his 27th year, he led CCSU to a shared regular season with a 8-1-1 NEC campaign and a 10-6-1 record overall. For the 17th time in D'Arcy's tenure, the Blue Devils finished with a winning overall record and they finished with a winning conference record for the 23rd time. The Irish skipper found a way to win the important fixtures down the stretch, collecting six consecutive wins to close out the regular season and besting playoff contenders FDU, Stonehill and Le Moyne during that run. The late-season surge secured CCSU's 14th NEC regular season title since joining the conference in 1996 and its 11th under D'Arcy. The Blue Devils will now look to capture their 12th NEC Tournament championship under D'Arcy and 14th in program history.

AWARD WINNER HIGHLIGHTS

• FDU and CCSU led the league in All-NEC selections for the second-straight year with six apiece. Stonehill and Wagner followed with five honorees. Le Moyne, Mercyhurst and New Haven each sported three all-stars, while Howard had two players honored.
   
• For the second straight season, FDU placed six players on the All-NEC First Team, becoming just the fourth team in conference history to accomplish the feat. The Knights matched their own showing from 2025 and joined CCSU's 2018 and 2020-21 squads in the record book.
   
• FDU's Laura Martinez (Palma de Mallorca, Spain/Colegio Santa Teresa), Garcia, Burzaco, Salas and Wagner's Hailey Knapp (Brampton, Ontario, Canada/Heart Lake Secondary) all earned First Team accolades for a second consecutive season. Martinez and Salas have each made the All-NEC First Team three consecutive seasons. 
   
• Stonehill tallied more All-NEC selections than it ever had before. Lily Roslonek (Dedham, MA/Dedham), Kayla Cassidy (Whitman, MA/Whitman Hanson Regional), Annie Renz (Milton, MA/Milton Academy), Sadie O'Toole (Douglas, MA/Douglas) and Dani Lomuscio (Wrentham, MA/King Philip) were the five Skyhawk honorees. The Stonehill attack ranks second in the conference in goals scored (36), with the five All-Conference players scoring 17 of them. The Skyhawks also boasted the NEC's second best defense during the conference campaign, allowing just five goals against NEC opposition.
   
• In addition to its first major award winner in Sousa, Le Moyne was recognized with two more first-time All-Conference selections. Logan Cookinham (Poland, NY/Poland) and Arndis Eggertsdottir (Akranes, Iceland/Fiolbrautaskoli Vesturlands) both were named to the All-NEC Second Team.
   
• A vastly-improved Mercyhurst side set a new program record for All-Conference honorees with three in Jenna Popowski (Erie, PA/Fort Leboeuf), Isabella Fiorillo (Spencerport, NY/Spencerport) and Lexi Hammermeister (Cleveland, OH/Rockey River). All three were selected to the Third Team.
   
• A much-improved New Haven squad collected its first three All-NEC selections in program history. Mariana Pinheiro Alves (Porto, Portugal/Escola Secundaria de Gondomar), Emma Mitchell (Edinburgh, Scotland/Liberton) and Janayah Body (West Hartford, CT/Lawrence Academy) were all tabbed to the Third Team.

About The NEC
Now in its 46th season, the NEC is an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association consisting of nine institutions of higher learning located throughout six states. Media coverage of the NEC extends to a number of the largest markets in the United States including New York (#1), Chicago (#3), Boston (#9), Hartford/New Haven (#32) and Syracuse (#88). Founded in 1981 as the basketball-only ECAC Metro Conference, the NEC has grown to sponsor 25 sports for men and women and now enjoys automatic access to 17 different NCAA Championships. NEC full member institutions include Central Connecticut, Chicago State, FDU, Le Moyne, LIU, Mercyhurst, New Haven, Stonehill and Wagner. For more information on the NEC, visit the league's official website (www.necsports.com) and digital network (www.necfrontrow.com), or follow the league on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, all @NECsports.