DENVER – University of Denver women's soccer players
Hannah Tate and
Emma Thielbahr were named the 2025 Summit League Midfielder and Defensive Player of the Year, respectively, the League announced on Thursday.
Tate and Thielbahr are two of five Pioneers to earn places on the 2025 All-Summit League Teams, which were also announced on Thursday. Denver is the only team with multiple "of the year" award winners and second only to co-regular-season champion Oral Roberts in first-team honorees.
2025 ALL-SUMMIT LEAGUE HONORS
FIRST TEAM
Senior
Isabella Chidiac (midfielder)
Redshirt junior
Hannah Tate (midfielder)
Redshirt junior
Emma Thielbahr (defender)
SECOND TEAM
Redshirt junior
Alina Santos (goalkeeper)
HONORABLE MENTION
Freshman
Annie Philbin (defender)
ALL-NEWCOMER TEAM
Freshman
Annie Philbin (defender)
View the complete
2025 All-Summit League Team and Awards.
Tate, the 2025 Summit League Midfielder of the Year, was named a 2025 Summit League Player to Watch and ended the regular season with two goals – both game winners – and an assist, all coming in Summit League play. Her 87
th-minute game winner against South Dakota in the regular-season finale completed Denver's 2-1 comeback win and secured a share of the Summit League regular-season title for the Pioneers. She played the full 90 minutes in every League match for DU. This is the second consecutive year that Tate has earned All-Summit League honors but her first, first-team nod.
Tate is the third DU player to earn Summit League Midfielder of the Year honors, joining fellow Pioneers
Ella Frost (2024) and
Sami Feller (2022). DU has now accounted for three of the four Midfielders of the Year since the League added the award in 2022.
Thielbahr, the 2025 Summit League Defensive Player of the Year, was named the Summit League Defensive Peak Performer of the Week in week seven after scoring her first career brace against then-No. 25 Colorado State in another 2-1 come-from-behind win for Denver this season. Two weeks later, she scored her second game winner of the season, this time in a comeback win at North Dakota State. Like Tate, she also played the full 90 minutes in every Summit League match in 2025 and ranks second on the DU roster for total minutes this season. This is Thielbahr's second time earning All-Summit League Recognition but her first at the first-team level.
Thielbahr is the fifth Pioneer to be named Defensive Player of the Year and gives DU a sixth combined honor. She joins two-time winner
Devan McSwain (2021, 2022),
Cheyenne Shorts (2019),
Mackenzie Bothner (2016) and
Jessy Batelli (2013).
Chidiac enters the Summit League tournament in a tie for No. 8 nationally in total assists on the season with nine. During her breakout campaign in 2025, she netted her first collegiate goal against Kansas City, giving her 11 points on the year – all her first as a collegiate player. She earned at least one point in all but two Summit League matches this season and is tied atop the League standings for total assists. This is the first All-League Team honor of her career.
Santos played every minute in goal for DU until the regular-season finale after being called up to the New Zealand national team. Through her 18 matches played, she made 75 total saves, which ranks in the top 10 in DU's NCAA Division I history for saves by a single player in a season. She was named to the Top Drawer Soccer National Team of the Week in week two after helping lead a short-handed DU to a shutout of now-No. 11 Baylor with a career-high eight saves. This is the first All-League Team honor of her career.
Philbin leads the Denver roster in minutes played, missing just 10 combined minutes of play. She scored her first collegiate goal with an equalizer at Arizona and added two more assists on the season including on the game winner against South Dakota State on October 9. The freshman has been a steady force as part of Denver's backline that has helped secure seven clean sheets and no more than one goal to any Summit League opponent. Her honorable mention and All-Newcomer Team nods are the first All-Summit League awards of her career.
The University of Denver women's soccer team is the No. 2 seed for the 2025 Summit League Championship and has received a bye through the quarterfinals. DU awaits the winner of the quarterfinal match between No. 3-seeded South Dakota State and No. 6-seeded Omaha on October 30 and will play the winner in the semifinals on Thursday, November 6, at 1 p.m. CT/12 p.m. MT in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
