Spartans Land Five on United Soccer Coaches All-Region Team, Garner North Region Staff of the Year

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Michigan State women’s soccer saw five student-athletes land a place on the United Soccer Coaches All-North Region Team, while the program’s coaches were named the North Region Staff of the Year, the organization announced.
 
Senior goalkeeper Lauren Kozal, graduate defender Ruby Diodati and senior forward Lauren DeBeau all earned All-Region First Team honors, while senior defender Raegan Cox and junior midfielder Justina Gaynor cemented a place on the All-Region Second Team. Michigan State tied multiple programs across the nation for the most players selected to their respective All-Region teams with five, also placing the most individuals on the All-North Region Teams in the process.
 

Five selections for the Green & White mark the most All-Region honors in program history for a single season, surpassing the 2003, 2009 and 2010 squads which each landed three players apiece. Since United Soccer Coaches placed MSU in the North Region following the 2017 season, only the 2021 squad was able to place multiple players on the All-Region Team prior to this year’s showing.
 
Kozal, a native of Ada, Michigan, is the only repeat All-Region selection from the 2021 campaign, as the Spartan netminder logged the second All-North Region recognition of her career. Kozal paved the way for the Spartans’ success between the posts, setting a single-season goalkeeper win record with 17 individual victories. Diodati, a native of Mendon, Massachusetts, led the MSU roster with eight assists and helped guide the Spartan back line to 12 shutouts in the 2022 season. DeBeau, the reigning Big Ten Forward of the Year, led all Spartans in scoring with 26 points comprised of 11 goals and four assists, also pacing both the team and the Big Ten Conference with five game-winning goals.
 
The Muskegon, Michigan, native Cox served as the team’s primary individual defender tasked with the opposing team’s toughest assignment. The Spartan senior helped pave the way for MSU’s 0.522 shutout percentage, the second-highest mark in the Big Ten. Gaynor, a native of Shelby Township, Michigan, played the second-most minutes of all Spartan fielders behind Diodati and finished in a tie for fourth on the team with 10 points split between four goals and two assists.
 
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