COLCHESTER, Vt. - Seven Saint Michael's College women's soccer players earned Northeast 10 Conference postseason awards on Wednesday, as voted upon by the league's head coaches, headlined by sophomore forward Scarlett Brookes (Rockaway, N.J./Morris Knolls) being named NE10 Player of the Year and first-year Chloe Laizer (West Springfield, Mass./West Springfield) landing NE10 Goalkeeper of the Year. They are the first players in program history to earn their respective awards.
 
Brookes, Laizer and sophomore back Julia Palmese (Berlin, Conn./Berlin) were among 13 selections to the NE10 All-Conference first team, while senior midfielder Bella DelVecchio (Saugus, Mass./Bishop Fenwick), sophomore forward Sarah Gormley (East Moriches, N.Y./Westhampton Beach), and sophomore back Josie Rayhill (Kirkland, Wash./Lake Washington) were among 13 second team picks. Laizer and first-year forward/midfielder Regan Kelso (Fairless Hills, Pa./Archbishop Wood) were selected for the 17-player NE10 All-Rookie Team. Saint Michael's placed at least one player on the NE10 All-Conference first team for the first time since Michelle Bougor '98 in 1996, with three landing first team accolades only once before, in 1990.
 
Despite missing four games, Brookes leads the NE10 in goals (12) and game-winning strikes (6) while tying for first in points (29). She is tied for fifth in the nation in game-winners and stands seventh in points per game (1.9) and ninth in goals per game (0.80). Brookes owns a school record for game-winners and has the most goals by a Purple Knight since Bougor, an SMC Athletic Hall of Famer and the program's all-time leading scorer, tied a school record with 15 in 1996. Brookes' 29 points are tied for fourth in program history. Her nine career winners are one short of Sara Pope '04 for the most by a Purple Knight since complete records became available in 1996. She was an NE10 All-Conference third team selection as a rookie last fall.
 
Laizer leads the NE10 in wins (16), shutouts (9) and goals-against average (0.67) after being thrust into a starting role as a rookie, breaking program marks for victories and clean sheets. She is already fifth in program history in career wins and tied for fifth in shutouts. A stout defense in front of her has yielded only 54 shots on goal, with Laizer averaging 2.2 saves with a .778 save percentage, but she has come up big during such games as five-save shutout wins over Adelphi University and Assumption, and making a goal-line stop with her toe for the lone shot sent on net during a 1-0 victory against Southern New Hampshire University.
 
An NE10 All-Rookie Team pick last fall, Palmese has started all 19 games on defense, scoring an insurance goal at Assumption on Nov. 5. After appearing in four games as a first-year, Rayhill made 16 of her appearances as a starter this season, lending an assist at Southern Connecticut State University on Sept. 27. The duo contributes to a defense that has a school-record 13 shutouts and a 0.63 goals-against average while allowing exactly one goal three other times. The Purple Knights have compiled two different five-game shutout streaks and yielded one tally the last eight games combined. They are also currently riding a school-record eight-game winning streak.
 
DelVecchio has career highs in assists (7) and points (11) as a captain, and her 16 career helpers tie for fifth in program history. She is tied for third in the NE10 in assists this season. A 2022 NE10 All-Rookie Team pick, DelVecchio owns 62 starts in 67 career games and is the only senior to start every game on an underclass-heavy roster. She netted the game-winner in the Purple Knights' season-opening victory over Millersville University and handed off two assists in two of the last four games.
 
Gormley has lent four goals and six assists, tying for eighth in the league in assists. One of the team's most consistent contributors, she has had a point in 10 different games, including totaling four goals and two helpers during one mid-season eight-game stretch. Gormley, who repeats on the NE10 All-Conference second team, assisted Brookes' goal against Bentley in the 1-0 NE10 first-round win on Sunday. She was also named NE10 Rookie of the Year and New England Women's Intercollegiate Soccer Association (NEWISA) All-New England in 2024.
 
Kelso is tied with Gormley for second on the team in goals (4). She netted her first college goal in a 1-0 win at D'Youville University on Sept. 14 and scored twice in a 3-0 win against the College of Staten Island three days later, again potting the winner. Kelso added another tally versus the University of Maine Fort Kent. Seven Purple Knights have now earned NE10 All-Rookie Team nods in the last four years.
 
Under 13th-year head coach Wendy Elles, the Purple Knights are 16-2-1 and head to Franklin Pierce University on Thursday for an NE10 Championship semifinal at 7 p.m. A historic 2025 season has seen Saint Michael's set school records for wins (16), shutouts (13) and assists (58) as well as tie for second in NCAA Division II in wins through Tuesday. The Purple and Gold received votes toward the latest United Soccer Coaches national poll and was third in the NCAA East Region rankings, which are used to determine the NCAA Tournament field.