University of North Texas Athletics
Byrd, Tufts Voted Preseason All-Conference
8/17/2022 12:59:00 PM | Women's Soccer
DALLAS — North Texas women's soccer senior forward Allie Byrd and junior midfielder Taylor Tufts were named to the 11-woman 2022 Conference USA Preseason All-Conference team on Wednesday.
The all-conference team was voted on by the league's 11 head coaches. The two Mean Green returners each earned 2021 C-USA All-Conference honors after last season.
"I'm honored to have been recognized by the head coaches," said Byrd. "I'm excited for this season."
Byrd begins her fourth season in Denton. The program's active career leading goal scorer has netted 18 goals in her first three seasons. Her 18 career goals are the most by a C-USA returner who isn't a fifth-year senior or older. Byrd has earned all-conference honors each season she's been at UNT. This is the second year in a row she's been voted to the Preseason All-Conference award. She scored six goals last season before suffering a season ending knee injury.
Tufts was voted second team all-conference after last season when she had a league-leading 10 assists, which was the 25th-most in the nation. Her .59 assists/game ratio was the 13th-highest in the nation. Tufts started every match last season for UNT and in addition to her 10 assists she also had five goals to give her a team-leading 20 points. Tufts led the team last year in shots with 54 and averaged over three shot attempts per game.
This is the third year in a row UNT has had multiple student-athletes named to the preseason all-conference team. UNT's two preseason all-conference honorees this year are the second-most in the league.
Preseason All-Conference Team
GK Bella Kilgore, Rice
D – Lyric Schmidt, WKU
D – Asha Zuniga, UAB
D – Amanda Martin, Florida Atlantic
MF – Delaney Schultz, Rice
MF – Ambere Barnett, WKU
MF – Maddison Krstec, Florida Atlantic
MF – Taylor Tufts, North Texas
F – Anna Sutter, UTSA
F – Allie Byrd, North Texas
F – Katie Erwin, WKU
The all-conference team was voted on by the league's 11 head coaches. The two Mean Green returners each earned 2021 C-USA All-Conference honors after last season.
"I'm honored to have been recognized by the head coaches," said Byrd. "I'm excited for this season."
Byrd begins her fourth season in Denton. The program's active career leading goal scorer has netted 18 goals in her first three seasons. Her 18 career goals are the most by a C-USA returner who isn't a fifth-year senior or older. Byrd has earned all-conference honors each season she's been at UNT. This is the second year in a row she's been voted to the Preseason All-Conference award. She scored six goals last season before suffering a season ending knee injury.
Tufts was voted second team all-conference after last season when she had a league-leading 10 assists, which was the 25th-most in the nation. Her .59 assists/game ratio was the 13th-highest in the nation. Tufts started every match last season for UNT and in addition to her 10 assists she also had five goals to give her a team-leading 20 points. Tufts led the team last year in shots with 54 and averaged over three shot attempts per game.
This is the third year in a row UNT has had multiple student-athletes named to the preseason all-conference team. UNT's two preseason all-conference honorees this year are the second-most in the league.
Preseason All-Conference Team
GK Bella Kilgore, Rice
D – Lyric Schmidt, WKU
D – Asha Zuniga, UAB
D – Amanda Martin, Florida Atlantic
MF – Delaney Schultz, Rice
MF – Ambere Barnett, WKU
MF – Maddison Krstec, Florida Atlantic
MF – Taylor Tufts, North Texas
F – Anna Sutter, UTSA
F – Allie Byrd, North Texas
F – Katie Erwin, WKU
Players Mentioned
Forward
/ Women's Soccer
Midfield
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