Players From Utah Schools Take Four of the Big Sky's Seven Women's Soccer Awards and 13 All-Conference Spots

Women's soccer players from Utah schools won four of the seven individual awards the Big Sky Conference announced on Tuesday, Nov. 10, and 13 players from Weber State, Southern Utah and Utah Tech made the all-conference teams.

Weber State took three of the awards. Senior forward Lily Blum was named Offensive MVP and won the Golden Boot, and sophomore goalkeeper Lauren Butorac was named Goalkeeper of the Year. Southern Utah freshman forward Ashlyn O'Malley was named Freshman of the Year. The league's head coaches vote on the awards, and they are not allowed to vote for their own players.

The four Utah award winners

Lily Blum, Weber State: Golden Boot and Offensive MVP. Blum scored 14 goals this season, according to the Big Sky, and her 11 goals in conference play led the league, which earned her the Golden Boot. She has scored in eight consecutive matches for the Wildcats. Her work was not only finishing: in Weber State's 9-1 win over Idaho State on Nov. 5, Weber State's recap credits her with two goals and three assists, a hand in five of the nine goals.

Lauren Butorac, Weber State: Goalkeeper of the Year. The Big Sky described Butorac as a staple of the Wildcats' defensive efforts in her sophomore season. She was also the first-team goalkeeper. In the title-clinching win over Idaho State she played the first 65 minutes and made one save before Lily Loyet finished the match.

Ashlyn O'Malley, Southern Utah: Freshman of the Year. A native of Rogers, Minn., O'Malley led the Thunderbirds with seven goals and 16 points, both tied for third in a season in program history, according to SUU Athletics. Her seven goals tied for second in the Big Sky. She scored five of SUU's six conference goals, and she was at her best in a run of three straight Big Sky matches, scoring against Northern Arizona on Oct. 15, Northern Colorado on Oct. 18 and at Eastern Washington on Oct. 22.

The Eastern Washington match was her biggest. In the 3-2 win in Cheney, Wash., she had five points: she scored in the 10th minute, assisted Gracen Blieschke's goal in the 17th and scored the game-winner at 83:32. Earlier, on Oct. 4, her goal in the 53rd minute produced a 1-0 win over Portland State, SUU's first Big Sky victory since returning to the conference.

SUU Athletics lists several firsts for O'Malley. She is the first Thunderbird to win Big Sky Freshman of the Year, an award the league began presenting in 2023, and the first SUU player to win one of the Big Sky's major end-of-season awards since MaKenzie Lawrence took the Golden Boot in 2019. She is also the first Thunderbird named to the first team as a freshman, and SUU's second first-team pick after Lawrence in 2019.

"These awards for Ashlyn are both incredible accomplishments and are well earned," SUU head coach Steven Lindquist said. "To be the first Thunderbird to win this award is a testament to the work ethic and desire she brings to this team and sets the standard for where we believe this program is headed."

Every Utah honoree

The Big Sky named 13 players from Weber State, Southern Utah and Utah Tech to its three all-conference teams. Counted from the league's release, seven are first-team selections.

First team (7):

• Lauren Butorac, Weber State, goalkeeper
• Bella Sackett, Weber State, defender
• Ava Talaeai, Utah Tech, defender
• Simone Packer, Weber State, midfielder
• Lily Blum, Weber State, forward
• Oakley Anderson, Weber State, forward
• Ashlyn O'Malley, Southern Utah, forward

Second team (3):

• Amanda Caswell, Weber State, defender
• Ella Rusick, Utah Tech, forward
• Lataya Brost, Utah Tech, forward

Honorable mention (3):

• Nao Yasuda, Southern Utah, defender
• Kenadee Godderidge, Weber State, defender
• Bonnie Buswell, Weber State, forward

By school, Weber State has eight honorees, Utah Tech three and Southern Utah two. The league's release says Weber State "led the way" with its trio of individual awards, and five Wildcats made the first team. Honorable mention required a minimum of three votes.

Utah Tech's three: Talaeai, Rusick and Brost

Utah Tech's own release adds the detail behind its three selections. Sophomore defender Ava Talaeai started all 18 matches, scored her first career goal on a penalty kick in a 5-0 win at Idaho State, finished with a goal and two assists, and helped the Trailblazers to seven shutouts, five of them in Big Sky play. She had started all 19 matches and made the All-WAC Freshman Team the year before.

Senior forward Ella Rusick shared the team lead with seven goals and was one point from the team lead with 17 points. She scored Utah Tech's first three goals of the season, added four more after that opening stretch, and scored an equalizer in the 86th minute of the Trailblazers' penultimate Big Sky game to earn a 1-1 draw.

Redshirt-junior forward Lataya Brost, from Orem, led Utah Tech with seven goals, four assists and 18 points. She scored the game-deciding goal in the 2-0 win at Southern Utah in the conference finale, and she had three game-winning goals this season, a career high.

Southern Utah's second honoree, and its goalkeeper

Senior defender Nao Yasuda, from Osaka, Japan, earned honorable mention after leading SUU with 1,489 minutes, starting all 18 matches and playing the full 90 minutes 10 times. SUU allowed 26 goals, 22 fewer than in 2025 and tied for the fifth-fewest in program history, and recorded five shutouts. Lindquist praised "calm consistency" in the back line.

In the season finale against Utah Tech on Nov. 5, freshman goalkeeper Tatum Trout made seven saves in a 2-0 loss. SUU finished 5-10-3 overall and 2-5-2 in the Big Sky in Lindquist's first season, and scored 30 goals, the second-most in program history, including a program-record 18-0 win over Justice on Sept. 6.

What comes next in Missoula

Weber State heads to the Big Sky Soccer Championship in Missoula, Montana, as the No. 1 seed and regular-season champion, its first regular-season title since 2018, according to the Big Sky. The Wildcats finished the regular season 11-6-2 overall and 7-1-1 in the Big Sky, and they earned a bye to Friday's semifinals. They will play the winner of the quarterfinal between No. 3 Northern Arizona and No. 6 Idaho State.

Utah Tech is the No. 5 seed and plays No. 4 Idaho in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, Nov. 11, at 1:30 p.m. MT in South Campus Stadium. Southern Utah was not among the six teams that qualified, so its season ended on Nov. 5.

The semifinals are Nov. 13 and the championship match is Sunday, Nov. 15, at 1 p.m., all on the campus of the University of Montana. The winner receives the Big Sky's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. For how the Big Sky regular-season race finished, see Utah's three conference soccer titles.

Key facts:

• Date: Big Sky Conference women's soccer awards announced Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026
• Utah award winners (4 of 7): Lily Blum, Weber State (Golden Boot, Offensive MVP); Lauren Butorac, Weber State (Goalkeeper of the Year); Ashlyn O'Malley, Southern Utah (Freshman of the Year)
• Other awards: Co-Defensive MVP Brooklyn Jones (Northern Arizona) and Mia Norman (Northern Colorado); Tri-Top Newcomer Aliya Garrett (Idaho State), Jones and Thordis Melsted (Northern Colorado); Coach of the Year Tim Barrera (Northern Colorado)
• Utah all-conference total: 13 (Weber State 8, Utah Tech 3, Southern Utah 2); 7 first team, 3 second team, 3 honorable mention
• Blum: 14 goals, 11 in conference play (league high), scored in eight straight matches
• O'Malley: 7 goals and 16 points for SUU; first Thunderbird to win Big Sky Freshman of the Year
• Utah Tech's honorees: Ava Talaeai (first team), Ella Rusick and Lataya Brost (second team)
• Postseason: Weber State is the No. 1 seed and plays in the semifinals Nov. 13; Utah Tech (No. 5) faces No. 4 Idaho on Nov. 11 at 1:30 p.m. MT; Southern Utah did not qualify