Kansas City, Mo. - The No. 13 Central Methodist Women's Soccer team concluded a dominant regular season with seven athletes making all-conference teams, including the conference Player of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year, and Newcomer of the Year.
Head Coach Dan Schmidlin was also named the Heart Coach of the Year for the fifth time in his career. Coach Schmidlin guided the Eagles to an undefeated conference slate en route to their seventh regular-season championship in the last nine years.
Junior forward Mariana Barreto was named both the Heart Co-Player of the Year and Heart Offensive Player of the Year. The native of Valencia, Venezuela, is now a three-time first selection after leading the Eagles with 23 goals while also dishing out five assists on the year.
Barreto was named the Offensive Player of the Week four times over the course of 2025 and earned National Offensive Player of the Week honors on Sept. 9. To date, she has recorded seven multi-goal games, including four hat tricks.
Rieke Protze was named the Heart Newcomer of the Year after helping lead the Eagles to an undefeated conference record. She anchored the defensive backline, which has allowed just 13 goals and compiled 10 shutouts on the season thus far. Protze also joined Barreto on the first team.
Amber Bennett made the first team after appearing in and starting 16 of Central's matches as the primary goalkeeper. Bennett has logged nearly 1300 minutes in goal and has tallied 34 saves for a .739 save percentage. She has recorded just a 0.84 goals against average during her time in between the posts.
Defender Nerea Munoz is now a two-time first-team selection, after landing on the first team during her freshman campaign in 2023. Munoz has scored five goals and dished out two assists in 17 matches this season for the Eagles. Her two most notable goals came in the final second of play to defeat No. 13 MidAmerica Nazarene and Park University. She was named the Heart Player of the Week on Sept. 15 and has helped lead the Eagles to nine shutouts on the season.
Junior midfielder Jenna Brouwer earns first-team selections for the first time in her career. The native of the Netherlands has served as a steady presence for the Eagles as a team captain. Statistically, she has played in 14 games with 13 starts to date this season, scoring two goals and dishing out a team-leading eight assists.
Sophomore midfielder Sara Garcia earned second-team honors after appearing in 18 matches with 16 starts for the Eagles. Garcia has scored four goals so far this season and has also recorded four assists.
Luisa Schaupp rounds out the all-conference honors for Central, earning conference recognition for the first time in her career. The second team selection has played and started in all 18 CMU games so far this season. She is currently second on the team in goals scored with nine and is tied for third with four assists.
To view the conference release on the 2025 Heart Women's Soccer All-Conference teams, please click here.
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