BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Six WKU Lady Topper soccer players earned All-Sun Belt Conference honors and senior midfielder Kellie Walker was named Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year, announced Tuesday night at an awards banquet before the start of the conference tournament in Boca Raton, Fla.

Libby Stout, Mallory Outerbridge, Rachel Friedman and Walker were voted to the All-Sun Belt Conference First Team, and Kaylyn Pratt and Morgan Thomas were named to the All-Sun Belt Conference Second Team. Voting was done by the league’s 12 head coaches.

The four first-team Lady Toppers and six total All-Sun Belt Conference players are both league-highs. The six all-conference selections are also the most in a single season in program history.

Walker, a senior from Novi, Mich., becomes the second Lady Topper in three years to be named Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year, joining 2007 conference player of the year Thomas. Walker’s first-team all-conference selection marks the second straight year in which the league’s coaches have voted her to the first team.

She has been an offensive force for WKU in 2009, leading the team and the league with 12 assists entering the conference tournament. Her 0.63 assists per game ranks her sixth nationally, as well. In addition to 12 assists Walker has also added five goals on the year, second-most on the team. Her 22 points are good for fourth-best in the conference. In early October she became WKU’s single-season and career assists record-holder, and she is four points shy of becoming the school’s all-time leader in career points.

Friedman and Thomas are the first Lady Toppers to be named three-time all-conference players when they were voted to the first- and second-teams in 2009, respectively. The two seniors have been defensive staples for the Lady Toppers for the last three seasons, helping the team post 34 shutouts in that span. Friedman earned first-team honors in 2008 after picking up second-team recognition in 2007, and Thomas was on the first team in both 2007 and 2008.

Stout makes it back-to-back first-team selections with her 2009 pick. She has worked seven shutouts in goal for the Lady Toppers this season and currently holds a save percentage of .869 and a goals-against average of 0.58. Both lead the Sun Belt Conference and rank 20th and 22nd nationally, respectively.

Returning to WKU in 2009 after redshirting the 2008 season while playing for the U20 Canadian National Team, Outerbridge has picked up where she left off this season. She is tied for the team lead with seven goals, four of which were game-winners. The four game-winners are best in the conference. Her All-Sun Belt Conference First-Team selection this season follows a second-team honor in 2007.

Pratt, a sophomore from Richmond, Ky., has exploded down the stretch this year to earn second-team all-conference honors, scoring six goals in the final seven games of the regular season. Her seven scores on the year are tied for the most on the team, and her .269 shot percentage is tops among Lady Topper regulars.

The Lady Toppers (14-4-1, 9-2), winners of 10 of their last 12 games, are seeded third for the Sun Belt Conference Tournament and will take on sixth-seeded Arkansas State in the opening round Wednesday night at 6 p.m. (CT). Should WKU advance past Arkansas State, they would take on the winner of the Denver-Troy matchup at 6 p.m. (CT) on Thursday.