Girl's soccer players from parish make All-Metro

Girl’s soccer players from the parish have already been named to the all-district, All-Parish and All-State teams. Now, it’s time for them to receive All-Metro honors.

Recently, the Baton Rouge area Division I-II All-Metro team was released and seven Ascension Parish girl’s soccer players made the squad.

In addition to the players, an area coach was also honored. Longtime St. Amant head coach Joleigh Hartman was named the All-Metro Coach of the Year.

Hartman, a former Lady Gator player, led St. Amant to a 15-6-2 regular season that culminated in a district championship.

The Lady Gators cruised past Sulphur, 5-0, in the opening round of the playoffs, before being eliminated by sixth-seeded C.E. Byrd in round two.

Hartman has gone 100-60-20 as St. Amant’s head coach. She led them to the state semifinals for only the second time in school history back in 2017.

Hartman has had a busy offseason. In addition to being named the All-Metro Coach of the Year, she has also been named the District 4 Coach of the Year and the Ascension Parish Coach of the Year.

Three of her Lady Gator players made the All-Metro first team.

Senior Blythe Babin made the squad. Babin scored 27 goals during the season and dished out 16 assists.

She was also named the District 4 MVP and the Ascension Parish MVP. Babin was the only girl’s first-team All-State selection from the parish.

Joining Babin on the All-Metro squad was junior center midfielder Rachel Cretini. Cretini scored 16 goals and piled up 48 assists. She was also first-team all-district and first-team All-Parish.

Finally, freshman forward Nya Bridgewater made the All-Metro squad after scoring 20 goals and dishing out 14 assists.

Bridgewater was also first-team all-district and All-Parish.

Dutchtown had two players make the All-Metro first unit.

The Lady Griffins went 12-5-2 during the regular season and finished as the district runners-up.

Once in the playoffs, Dutchtown rolled past H.L. Bourgeois, 4-0, in the opening round, but in round two, they fell to eighth-seeded Lafayette.

Making the All-Metro team for the Lady Griffins were seniors Alyssa Abbott and Delaney Zybko.

Abbott is a center midfielder that was also named the District 4 Offensive MVP, and she was the only other female player from the parish to make the All-State squad. She was a second-team selection.

She is a UL-Lafayette signee.

Zybko is a forward that scored 15 goals this past season. She was also named first-team all-district and All-Parish.

East Ascension faced some struggles this year, but they still landed two players on the All-Metro first team.

The Lady Spartans finished the regular season with a 6-9-2 record and missed out on the playoffs.

Making the All-Metro squad for East Ascension were senior forward Melisse Speligene and freshman goalkeeper Hannah May. May made more than 30 saves against district opponents.

Both players also made the all-district and All-Parish first teams.

St. Joseph’s Academy’s Madison Corey was named the All-Metro team’s Outstanding Player.