Trio Named to Big Ten Players to Watch List
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Three members of the Purdue soccer team have been named to the Big Ten Players to Watch List, the Big Ten Conference announced on Tuesday.
Senior midfielder Emily Mathews, junior forward/midfielder Gracie Dunaway and sophomore forward Kayla Budish are recognized by the conference on the preseason watch list ahead of the 2023 season opener on Thursday night at Folk Field.
Dunaway and Mathews also were recognized on the league’s Players to Watch list in 2022.
Mathews, a team captain both as a junior in 2022 and a senior this season, led the team with seven assists and was third with nine points, 24 shots and six shots on goal as a junior last year. She scored one goal in a team-best 1,469 minutes and started all 17 games. A native of Macomb, Michigan, Mathews has started all 51 games she has played in during her three-year Boilermaker career. She has seven goals and 16 points for 30 points in nearly 4,500 career minutes. Mathews’ list of awards includes All-Region Third Team and All-Big Ten First Team accolades in 2021, Academic All-District honors in 2022 and Academic All-Big Ten distinction in 2021 and 2022.
Dunaway paced the Boilermakers with six goals, 14 points and 15 shots on goal as a sophomore a season ago. She tied for the team lead with 33 shots and was second with 1,239 minutes and added two assists while starting all 17 games. Dunaway scored one game-winning goal and recorded one game-winning assist. From Mars, Pennsylvania, she has started all 39 games she has played in with seven career goals and nine assists for 23 points in more than 2,600 minutes in her first two seasons.
Budish was second on the team with four goals, 10 points and 13 shots on goal and tied for the team lead with 33 shots on goal in her freshman season in 2022. As she started all 17 games and was third on the team with 1,229 minutes, Budish notched one game-winning assist. The Brookfield, Wisconsin, native was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team to cap her first year with Purdue.
Mathews, Dunaway, Budish and the Boilermakers open the 2023 season on Thursday, August 17 against No. 24 UCF with the annual Boiler Gold Rush season-opener at 7 p.m. ET at Folk Field. Admission will be free for all fans to Thursday night’s contest and every regular-season home game once again this year.