Complete Hermann Trophy Watch List

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Graduate defender Lyndsey Heckel, senior forward Emily Gaebe and graduate goalkeeper Emily Puricelli of Saint Louis University are among 44 NCAA Division I women's soccer student-athletes named to the 2024 Hermann Trophy Watch List. The announcement was made Thursday by United Soccer Coaches.
 
Saint Louis tied 2023 national champion Florida State and Texas Tech for the most players on the Watch List. SLU is the only Atlantic 10 Conference team represented on the list.
 
The Hermann Trophy, presented by the Missouri Athletic Club, is the most prestigious individual award in college soccer and is presented annually to the most outstanding female and male players of the year. It is named in honor of the late Robert Hermann, the legendary St. Louis businessman and soccer executive who founded the National Professional Soccer League, the first pro soccer league in the United States which became the North American Soccer League. Hermann was inducted into the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame in 2012.
 
Fifteen players will be named Hermann Trophy semifinalists Dec. 4, and three finalists will be identified later that month. This year's winners will be announced Friday, Jan. 3, at the Missouri Athletic Club in St. Louis.
 
Heckel and Puricelli are in their fifth season, while Gaebe is a traditional fourth-year senior. Last year, the trio helped lead the Billikens to a 19-3-2 record, A-10 regular-season and tournament championships, and their first advancement to the round of 16 while appearing in their sixth consecutive NCAA Tournament. They played key roles in SLU's school-record-tying 15 shutouts, which led Division I, and 3.08 goals per game (school-record 74 total), which ranked second in the nation.
 
Despite not being included on the Watch List, Heckel and Gaebe were named to the Hermann Trophy semifinalists list in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Heckel was the first semifinalist in SLU women's soccer history. Gaebe is one of six 2023 semifinalists on this year's Watch List.
 
Heckel is a two-time United Soccer Coaches All-American, making the second team in 2023 after becoming the first Billiken women's soccer player to earn first-team plaudits in 2022. The center back was the 2023 A-10 Defensive Player of the Year.
 
The St. Louis native begins her fifth season tied for fourth in games started (85), tied for seventh in game-winning goals (nine) and 10th in games played (85) on Saint Louis' career lists. She spearheads a Billiken defense that posted a sparkling 0.63 goals against average and 49 shutouts in her first four seasons.
 
In addition to her defensive leadership, Heckel contributed four goals and a career-high four assists a year ago to raise her career totals to 17 goals and six helpers.
 
Heckel is one of only two players in SLU women's soccer history to garner first-team All-Conference recognition four times, and one of only nine in program annals to earn four total All-Conference honors. She is a three-time A-10 Championship All-Tournament selection, earning Most Outstanding Player accolades in 2022, and she was the 2022-23 recipient of the Chalupny Award as the female soccer Player of the Year in St. Louis.
 
Gaebe is coming off a record-setting 2023 campaign. In addition to earning United Soccer Coaches first-team All-America plaudits and making the Hermann Trophy semifinalists list, she was the A-10 Offensive Player of the Year, an A-10 Championship All-Tournament choice, and the College Soccer News National Player of the Week for Oct. 9-15.
 
The Union, Mo., native begins her senior season second in goals (32), third in points (82), fifth in shots (214), tied for seventh in game-winning assists (seven) and tied for ninth in assists (18) on the Billikens' career lists. A year ago, she tallied school records and league-leading totals of 16 goals (tied for fifth nationally) and 41 points (sixth), plus career highs of five game-winning goals (tied for 14th) and nine assists (tied for 23rd, tied for first A-10). In A-10 regular-season play, Gaebe led the conference with 11 goals and 26 points.
 
Gaebe began her career by collecting A-10 Rookie of the Year plaudits and a second-team All-Conference nod as a freshman. She claimed first-team All-Conference and third-team All-Region accolades in her sophomore season.
 
Puricelli, a 2022 United Soccer Coaches third-team All-American, has been the starting netminder in all 86 games of her Saint Louis career. She begins her fifth season as the SLU record-holder in wins (67), shutouts (40) and goalkeeper minutes (7,672), as well as second in goals against average (0.645) and saves (265), third in games started (86) and tied for fourth in games played (86) on the Billiken career lists.
 
A year ago, Puricelli turned in a 19-3-2 record, a 0.64 GAA, an .864 save percentage, 11 shutouts and four combined shutouts. She was the 2023 A-10 Goalkeeper of the Year in the first season the award was presented.
 
The St. Louis native is one of only nine Billiken women's soccer players to earn four All-Conference honors, three of which have been first-team nods, and she was the league's 2020 Defensive Player of the Year. Puricelli has three All-Region selections to her credit, including spots on the 2022 and 2023 first teams, and is a three-time A-10 Championship All-Tournament choice.
 
Puricelli led the A-10 in wins, shutouts and goalkeeper minutes in each of her first four seasons. She set school single-season records of 13 shutouts and 20 wins in 2022, with the 13 clean sheets leading the nation. Puricelli also holds the Saint Louis record for goalkeeper minutes in a season (2049:34 in 2021), and she co-owns the Billikens' record for saves in a game (14 vs. Rutgers in the 2021 NCAA Tournament second round).