WALTHAM, Mass. – For the second year in a row, Brandeis University senior defender Michaela Friedman of Port Jefferson Station, N.Y., has been named an All-American. She earned Third-Team honors on defense from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America after being selected to the D3soccer.com All-America team in 2015.
Friedman, who previously earned first-team All-New England honors from the NSCAA and the ECAC as well as from the University Athletic Association, anchored a Brandeis defense that held opponents to a 0.66 goals-against average and picked up 13 shutouts in 24 contests on the season. A dangerous threat on free kicks, she also contributed her first career goal and three assists.
In head coach Denise Dallamora's 37th year leading Brandeis women's soccer, the Judges posted their finest season in 2016. After a 13-match unbeaten streak to open the season, the Brandeis women finished with a 13-3-3 record in the regular season. They received a third-straight at-large berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament, where they defeated Virginia Wesleyan College, 3-0, in the opening round of the tournament, then knocked off #5 and host College of New Jersey on penalty kicks, 4-2, after a 1-1 draw.
Brandeis hosted the next two rounds of the tournament, defeating #15 McDaniel (Md.) College, 1-0, and William Smith College, the #1 team in Division III, 4-3 in overtime, to reach their first Final Four. The Judges fell in the semifinals to eventual champions Washington University, 2-1, as two of their four losses this year came at the hands of the Bears, while another came against another Final Four participant from the UAA, the University of Chicago. Brandeis ended the season ranked No. 4 in the nation in Division III according to the NSCAA, with a record of 16-4-4.