OXFORD, Ohio- The River States Conference unveiled the award winners for the 2025 women's soccer season Friday afternoon, ahead of the resumption of the conference tournament. Oakland City claimed three of the five awards, as Jana Mueller was named Player & Offensive Player of the Year, while coach Jamie Bladen won Coach of the Year honors for the second year in a row. IU Kokomo's Kailee Moore was honored as Defensive Player of the Year, with WVU Tech's Rocio Gutierrez earning Newcomer of the Year honors.
Jana Mueller was selected by the coaches of the RSC as the league's top player, earning both Player and Offensive Player of the Year honors. The sophomore, who was last season's Newcomer of the Year, led the River States Conference in both goals (16) and assists, finishing with 46 points, a total that ranks her in the top ten nationally. Mueller played a role in 25 goals during conference play, scoring 15 goals and adding ten assists during OCU's run to a second straight regular season title.
The award for the top defensive player in the conference was given to IU Kokomo's Kailee Moore. Moore was heroic in goal for the Cougars, leading the conference with 122 saves. She had the top save percentage in the league at .865, and finished fourth in goals against average at 1.11, facing decidedly more shots than three goalies ahead of her. Moore is one of only three goalkeepers in the nation with 100 or more saves to also allow less than 20 goals this season.
The Newcomer of the Year was WVU Tech's freshman midfielder Rocio Gutierrez. In her first season in Beckley, Gutierrez contributed to ten goals for the Golden Bears, scoring five and assisting on five more. The Madrid native had a career highlight in WVU Tech's regular season match against Brescia, recording a hat trick to lead the Golden Bears to a 3-1 victory over the Bearcats.
For the second year in a row, Jamie Bladen of Oakland City was named RSC Coach of the Year, as voted on by his peers. The Mighty Oaks went unbeaten in conference play for the second consecutive year, with just one tie keeping Oakland City from another perfect season. In his two seasons since taking control of the Oakland City program, Bladen has posted an overall record of 28-7-2, including a 20-0-1 record against RSC opponents.
The 2025 River States Conference Tournament is scheduled to continue on Saturday with the semifinal round. Top seeded Oakland City will play host to fourth-seeded IU East, while third-seeded WVU Tech will head to Memorial Stadium for a matchup with the second-seeded Cougars of IU Kokomo. The winners will meet on Wednesday to determine the conference's automatic berth into the NAIA Tournament.