The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) announced its list of All-Americans for the 2023 women’s soccer season and Karinna Tel from Dordt University earned the national honor.
Tel is the second player in Dordt women’s soccer program history to earn the national honor and first since Suzanne Clark for the 2006 season.
Tel, named a third team All-American, led the conference with 54 points scored, fourth best in the NAIA. The sophomore forward scored a GPAC-leading 21 goals, two shy of the Defenders single season record, and totaled 12 assists for the season. Tel scored five game-winning goals and had five matches where she scored multiple goals.
“I am so happy for Karinna to receive this type of recognition,” commented Dordt University Head Coach Alex Durbin. “Karinna is a phenomenal soccer player who works relentlessly to get better each and every day. Not only that, she is a phenomenal teammate who pushes her teammates to get better as well. As a sophomore, I have put a lot of on-field responsibility on her and she has done a terrific job of leading this team by example and living out the Defender Way in the process. It is a privilege to coach a student-athlete like Karinna and I am looking forward to how she will continue to impact this program over the next two years. Karinna’s stats and accolades over this past season speak for themselves and she is well deserving of the title of All-American.”
Earlier this season, Tel was awarded the GPAC Player of the Year honor as voted upon by the conference head coaches and became the third Defender player to claim the league’s top honor (Kate DuMez – 2x in 2008 and 2009, Kelsie De Nooy – Defensive Player of the Year in 2008). Tel has earned first team all-conference honors in each of her first two years in the Defenders program and was named the GPAC Player of the Week three times during the 2023 season.
Dordt finished the season with a 12-6-2 record, falling in the GPAC Championship match to Midland 4-3 (2 OT) to end their season. They tied Morningside for fourth place in the GPAC regular season with a 7-3-2 mark.
