Smith Named Big West Offensive Player of the Year, Cole Crowned Defender of the Year
11/1/2025 2:09:00 PM | Women's Soccer
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Senior Brennan Cole was crowned the Big West Defensive Player of the Year, junior Annika Smith was named the Big West Offensive Player of the Year and four other Cal Poly women’s soccer players received All-Big West honors, the conference office announced Saturday.
Three Mustangs secured All-Big West First Team honors as Cole, Smith and graduate student Madelyn Dougherty were all rightfully recognized as some of the top players in the conference. Senior Jessie Halladay earned an All-Big West Second Team selection, senior Camryn Penn garnered All-Big West Honorable Mention praise and redshirt freshman Shannon Porubski was named to the Big West All-Freshman Team.
This marks the fifth straight season that at least five Mustangs have received All-Big West praise.
Annika Smith
Big West Offensive Player of the Year
All-Big West First Team
Smith is just the second Mustang ever to be tabbed as the Big West Offensive Player of the Year, joining Cal Poly Athletics Hall of Famer Elise Krieghoff who earned the distinction in 2013. The honor comes as no surprise for the star forward out of Scottsdale, Arizona, who is tied for the Big West lead in goals scored this season with seven and is fourth in the conference in points with 17.
Smith has started in all 19 matches for the Mustangs this season, tallying seven goals, three assists, three game-winners and 39 shots across over 1,330 minutes on the pitch. She has been named the Big West Offensive Player of the Week twice this season and has started in 28 consecutive matches for the Mustangs. This is Smith’s third straight season garnering All-Big West praise and her first First Team selection, grabbing Second Team honors in 2023 and Honorable Mention recognition a year ago.
Brennan Cole
Big West Defensive Player of the Year
All-Big West First Team
Cole has anchored the Cal Poly backline to eight shutouts this season, the program’s most in a season since 2022. The Woodland Hills, Calif. native is the sixth player in program history to be crowned Big West Defensive Player of the Year and the first since Emma Brown won the award in 2023.
The center back leads the Mustangs in minutes played this season with 1,664, starting in all 19 matches and playing every minute in 15 of them. She has also scored three goals this season and assisted on Izzy Matteson’s late equalizer in the regular season finale against CSUN last Sunday. This is Cole’s first time garnering All-Big West accolades.
Madelyn Dougherty
All-Big West First Team
The First Team selection for Dougherty is well deserved. The Kula, Hawai’i native leads the Big West in assists with eight, tied for the fifth most assists in a single season by a Mustang in program history. The midfielder is also tied for second in the conference in points with 18, burying five goals on the year including three game-winners.
Dougherty has made quite the impact in her first and only season as a Mustang, starting in all 19 matches and playing the fourth most minutes on the team (1,395).
Jessie Halladay
All-Big West Second Team
One of the top forwards in the conference, Halladay secured her second straight All-Big West selection by earning a spot on the Second Team. The 2025 All-Big West Preseason Team selection leads the conference in shots per match, is tied for the Big West lead in goals with seven, is second in shots on goal (28) and is tied for second in total points with 18, dishing out four assists to go along with her conference-leading goal tally.
The 2024 All-Big West Honorable Mention selection has started in all 17 games she has appeared in this season and her 43 career points (16 goals, 11 assists) are currently tied with Ashley Vallis (2005-08) for the 14th most in Cal Poly history.
Camryn Penn
All-Big West Honorable Mention
This is Penn’s second All-Big West Honorable Mention selection (2023) and third time securing conference honors after being named to the All-Freshman Team in 2022. She is third on the team in minutes played this season with 1,533 and has started in all 19 matches, playing every minute in nine of them. She recorded an assist earlier this season in a 2-2 home draw with Pacific and has started in 28 consecutive matches for the Mustangs.
The Foster City, Calif. native currently ranks sixth all-time in career starts in Cal Poly history with 74 and is tied for 17th in career appearances with 77.
Shannon Porubski
All-Big West Freshman Team
Porubski has been a star between the pipes for the Mustangs all season long. The redshirt freshman goalkeeper has recorded seven clean sheets this season, allowing just 12 goals across 14 starts and posting an 8-2-4 record.
The Rocklin, Calif. native won Big West Freshman of the Week four times this season and registered the first assist by a Cal Poly goalkeeper in 12 years in a 3-1 victory at San Jose State. She owns a 0.86 goals against average this season and a .755 save percentage, making 37 total saves.
Cal Poly secured the No. 2 seed in the Big West Championships and will face the winner of Sunday’s first-round match between No. 3 Cal State Fullerton and No. 6 Cal State Bakersfield in the conference semifinals at 4 p.m. on Thursday at CSUN’s Matador Soccer Field.
