OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – The Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference released its 2018 women's soccer all-conference performer, and Johnson County Community College was well represented with a program 10 players earning All-East Jayhawk recognition.
Sophomore defender Georgia Vernardakis, freshman forward Kayla Brashear, sophomore midfielder Manuela Gonzalez, freshman midfielder Liz Palmer and freshman defender Kayla Flores were first-team selections. Vernardakis was also named the 2018 KJCCC East Division Defensive Player of the Year, repeating the honor from a year ago.
Second-team honors went to freshman forward Aina Blanch-Lopez, sophomore midfielder Monique Diaz, freshman defender Brooklyn Armbruster, sophomore defender Jessie Cummings and sophomore goalkeeper Vanessa Silva.
Vernardakis missed the first eight matches of the season recovering from an illness, but once she returned to the lineup she made her presence known. On the offensive side, she finished the season with 16 points, six goals and three assists. She tied for third in goals scored. She also had one game winning goal and tied for the team lead with two game winning assists. Defensively she was part of a defensive pool that posted a goals against average of 1.70 with six shutouts.
Brashear led the team in points with 37, goals scored with 11 and tied for the team lead with three game winning scores. She ranked 14th in the conference in both goals and points. She also had five assists. Brashear had three multiple-goal games one multiple-assist game. One of multi-goal efforts resulted in a hat trick in a 10-0 win over MCC-Blue River on Sept. 15. Her two assist game came in a 4-1 victory over nationally ranked Butler on Oct. 15. Her first assist led to the game winning goal.
Gonzalez, who led JCCC in points and goals as a freshman, finished second in points with 24 and goals with eight as a sophomore. She led the team with eight assists and game winning goals with four. One of her game winning scores came in a 4-1 win over a nationally ranked Butler squad on Oct. 15. Overall, she ranked ninth in the conference in assists, 16th in points and 18th goals. A first-team all-conference selection last year, Gonzalez leaves the program ranked among the all-time leaders in three categories. She is tied for eighth in career game winning goals with seven, tied for 26th in career goals with 17 and tied for 27th in career points with 53.
Palmer helped play a role in both the offensive and defensive sides of the field. She finished the season with nine points from three goals and three assists. Two of her best games came against arch rival and nationally ranked Butler. In the first game she gave JCCC an early 1-0 lead with her first score of the season, but Butler rebounded to a 2-1 lead. In rematch, Palmer had both a goal and assist to help the Cavaliers to a 4-1 victory. She also was part of a defensive pool that posted a goals against average of 1.70 with six shutouts.
Flores started all 20 matches at defender for Johnson County in 2018 … She proved to key member of a defensive unit that posted a goals against average of 1.70 with six shutouts. She also helped out on the offensive side finishing with seven points from three goals and an assist. She got her first points scoring the Cavaliers fourth goal in a 4-2 win over Coffeyville Sept. 22. She scored a point in three consecutive games beginning with a goal in a 6-0 win at Allen Oct. 3. She secured a 2-0 win at Cowley on Oct. 8 with a goal in the 73rd minute and was credited with an assist on JCCC's goal in the 83rd minute to help push the Cavaliers into a 3-3 tie with Kansas City Kansas on Oct. 12.
Blanch-Lopez started 19 of the 20 matches in 2018 and finished with 14 points on four goals and six assists. Her six assists tied for third on the team and 16th in the conference. She also tied for the team lead with two game winning assists. Blanch-Lopez had a goals and two assists, including one on the game winning shot, in a 10-0 win over MCC-Blue River on Sept. 5. She provided her second game winning assist in a 4-0 victory at Neosho County on Sept. 25.
Diaz closed out the season with nine points from three goals and three assists. One her goals was a penalty kick score in a 4-2 win over Coffeyville Sept. 22, the only one for the Cavaliers on the season. Her other two scores came in a 2-2 at Kansas City Kansas on Sept. 18, and a 3-3 tie in the return match with Blue Devils on Oct. 12. Diaz also helped the defense post a goals against average of 1.70 with six shutouts.
Armbruster started 19 of JCCC's 20 matches in the back, and demonstrated her ball winning mentality combined with the physical ability to take on opponents. She was a key part of JCCC's defensive unit that posted a goals against average of 1.70 with six shouts.
A first-team all-conference and second-team All-Region VI pick last year, Cummings again showed why she was one of the best defenders in 2017 with her solid play in the back as a sophomore. With her presence at defender, Cummings helped this year's defensive unit post a goals against average of 1.70 with six shutouts.
Silva finished the season in the nets with a 11-7-2 record with three shutouts and three shared shutouts. She posted a goals against average 168 with 86 saves and a save percentage of .723. She also logged 1,769:06 minutes, second highest total among conference goalkeepers, and ranks eighth in team history. Silva's 11 wins tied for second in the conference and place her 15th on JCCC's season chart. Her three shutouts tied for fifth in the conference. For her career, Silva leaves among the top 10 in four categories. She ranks third in total minutes with 3,297:10, tied for fourth with 26 wins, sixth in saves with 149 and tied for eighth in shutouts with 10.