Nina Norshie and Aya Saiki of the 8th ranked Barton Community College women's soccer team have been named to the 2023 NJCAA Division I All-America teams.
The pair become the program's first duo to land on a single year All-America list while marking the fourth straight year the Cougars have earned the national distinction. Also becoming the program's 7th and 8th All-America awards, the pair are Head Coach Ousmane Camara's fifth and sixth in his eight years at the helm.
Norshie and Saiki, along with the KJCCC/Region 6 Defensive Player of the Year Hinata Kojima, helped Barton to a 12-1-3 record to win its second straight and program's sixth KJCCC title, the third under Camara's guidance. The Cougars extended its season with its second straight national tournament appearance, going 0-1-1 in pool play finishing 14-3-4 for the program's 16th straight winning season.
Complete list of 2023 NJCAA Division I Women's All-America Awards
Nina Norshie – 1st Team All-America
Norshie follows her 1st team selection from her freshman year in becoming the program's first two-time 1st team selection and the second Cougar with a pair of All-America honors joining Seulgi Lee's 2020 and 2021 accomplishments.
The focus of defenses for the past two seasons, the sophomore from Accra, Ghana, became the fourth Cougar in program history to earn the KJCCC/Region 6 Offensive Player of the Year award in ranking as one of the KJCCC's top ten scorers of all-time.
A versatile player on either end of the field, Norshie was generally an attacker but switched to defender as needed including late in the season to earn accolades at the National Tournament in being named to the thirteen member All-Tournament team.
This season Norshie scored a league and region best 48 points coming on 4 assists and a nation 5th best 22 goals, two of the assists and eight of the goals providing game winners.
Recording a pair of hat tricks during the year, Norshie's first was a four-goal effort leading to a 5-0 win at Seward County. Norshie capped her Barton scoring career with seven goals in a three-game stretch, two versus Seward County to wrap up the regular season, and three coming in the Region VI playoffs versus Coffeyville followed by another pair of net shakers against Butler in the semifinals.
Norshie leaves Barton second on the program all-time list in career points (142), goals (65), and single season goals (43) while landing in the third spot of points scored in a season (94). Norshie also produced in just her third collegiate game the highest scoring output in program history with a 7 goal, 2 assists for a 16 point performance on August 27, 2022.
A first team selection following her freshman season as well, Norshie's two-year career also left Top-10 performances on the KJCCC record book. Some of the accomplishments include 2nd most hat-tricks in a season (9) and career game winners (15), 4th most single game goals (7) and points (16), 4th most goals in a season (43) and game winners (8) in a season, 5th most career goals (65) and career hat-tricks (11), 9th most career points (142), and 10th most single season points (94).
Aya Saiki – 2nd Team All-America
Saiki is the program's first All-America midfielder after being in the conversation for the conference and region player of the year.
The native of Nishinomiya, Japan, put together a solid sophomore performance keying the Barton offense while helping control the midfield finishing second on the team in three offensive categories, scoring a league 3rd best 14 goals and added 5 assists for a league 4th best 33 points produced.
Saiki recorded a pair of hat-tricks on the season, a four goal effort with an assist October 4 versus Coffeyville followed by a three goal and an assist performance October 23 against Seward County.
Two-year accomplishments leave Saiki in numerous spots on the program all-time career list including 10th in goals scored (28), 12th in assists (14), and 11th in total points (70).
Barton Women's Soccer NJCAA All-America Selections:
1st Team
Shala Giardini (Forward) - 2009
Seulgi Lee (Defender) – 2021
Rayssa Neres (Forward) – 2018
Nina Norshie (Defender) – 2022 & 2023
2nd Team
Yesenia Garcia (Forward) – 2008
Seulgi Lee (Defender) – 2020
Aya Saiki (Midfielder) - 2023
Chronological order of Barton Women's Soccer NJCAA All-America Selections:
2023: Nina Norshie (Defender) - 1st Team, Aya Saiki (Midfieder) - 2nd Team
2022: Nina Norshie (Defender) – 1st Team
2021: Seulgi Lee (Defender) – 1st Team
2020: Seulgi Lee (Defender) – 2nd Team
2018: Rayssa Neres (Forward) – 1st Team
2009: Shala Giardini (Forward) – 1st Team
2008: Yesenia Garcia (Forward) – 2nd Team