Five Tartans Earn All-UAA Women’s Soccer Honors

(ROCHESTER, N.Y.) – Five Carnegie Mellon University women's soccer players have been honored on the 2024 All-University Athletic Association (UAA) Women's Soccer Team with graduate student Cecelia Dieterich earning first-team recognition. Sophomore Audrey Bianco and junior Grace Starr were placed on the second team while seniors Gemma Jefferson and Emma Shirzad received honorable mention accolades.

Dieterich, who played an attacking midfield role and forward at times for the Tartans, finished the regular season as the team leader in points and goals with 19 and seven, respectively. She tallied three goals and one assist against UAA competition to lead the offensive game for the Tartans. She also registered five game-winning goals for the season with two coming in UAA games.

Bianco was second in points and goals for the regular season with 15 points on six goals and three assists. Two of her goals came in UAA play. After two NCAA games, Bianco finished the year as the team leader in points with 23 and goals with 10 by scoring two goals in each of the postseason games for the Tartans.

Starr was the only Tartan to start every game and she led the team in minutes played with 1,209 through the regular season. An outside back, Starr helped fend off the opposing team's attack while getting forward to help the Tartans' offense. She helped contribute to the team's nine regular season shutouts and 10 total following a 4-0 win in the first round of the NCAA Championship. In total, Starr played 1,398 of the 1,730 game minutes for the Tartans.

Jefferson started eight of 12 games played during the season, missing time due to injury in September. Once back on the field, the senior central midfielder helped the Tartans to five straight shutouts. She tallied one goal for the season in a 3-0 win at Salisbury while she started five of seven UAA games.

Shirzad started 14 of 16 games for the season, including all of the UAA games. Her play as an outside midfielder stretched the opponent's defense as she helped set up plays for her teammates throughout the year.

All of the league honors were a first, except for Dieterich who was honored on the second team twice before as a sophomore and a junior.