ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – After a shortened first season with the College of Saint Benedict soccer team, Abby Willenbring made the most of her sophomore season with the program.
 
Willenbring earned All-MIAC Honorable Mention honors at the end of the season after serving as a versatile threat on both offense and defense for the Bennies, and helped the team to the MIAC Championship game. She also put in a lot of work in the classroom. At the end of the season, Willenbring – an accounting major – boasted a cumulative GPA of 4.0.
 
On Wednesday, Willenbring was named the 2021 MIAC Elite 22 Award winner for women's soccer. The Elite 22 Award recognizes the true essence of the student-athlete by honoring the individual who has reached the pinnacle of competition at the conference championship level while also achieving the highest academic standard among their peers. It was founded in 2013, and models the NCAA Elite 90 Award.
 
Willenbring is the sixth Elite 22 Award winner in CSB athletics history, and the second in the past six months after Tracy Renier won the award for Women's Outdoor Track and Field in May. She joins Piper Murray '16 as the two CSB soccer student-athletes to earn the award. Murray was named the Elite 22 Award winner as a sophomore in 2013 when the Bennies won the MIAC title.
 
Kathryn Gaydos (volleyball), Natalie Amundson (golf) and Hunter Weiss (volleyball) have also won the Elite 22 Award.
 
Willenbring finished second on the team with 1,458 minutes played at midfield this season, and she recorded seven points on two goals and three assists. She started her sophomore year with a goal and two assists on Sept. 1 against Morris, and added a goal against Hamline on Oct. 16. She was part of a starting defense/midfield that gave up just 14 goals all season and helped the Bennies outshoot opponents 153-112.

In all sports with MIAC team postseason tournaments, including volleyball and soccer, the MIAC Elite 22 Award is presented to the individual with the highest GPA on the active postseason roster of one of the two Playoff championship teams. For cross country, the honor is bestowed upon the individual with the highest GPA among the top-15 individual finishers at the conference championship meet, while the accolade in golf is presented to the individual with the highest GPA among the top-10 individual finishers at the MIAC Championships. Each winner must be a sophomore, junior, or senior and in at least their second full academic year at their current institution. Ties are broken by the number of credits earned.