Ally Rowe awarded U SPORTS Women's Soccer Player of the Year!
Ally Rowe named U SPORTS Women's Soccer player of the year
National award highlight of stellar career in CAPER orange
By Corey LeBlanc
SYDNEY – Alliyah "Ally" Rowe of the Cape Breton University (CBU) CAPERS is the 2024 U SPORTS player of the year in women's soccer.
That honour serves as another highlight of a record-breaking season for the fifth-year striker from Kitchener, Ontario.
"A notch above everyone else," veteran CBU head coach Stephen "Ness" Timmons said in describing the performance of his history-making student-athlete in 2024. He added, "If there ever was a year that she would win it, this would be the one," while noting Rowe has been "a contender for this MVP award for a few years. We are really happy for her – Ally deserves it," he offered.
Timmons explained that the seeds were planted for her sensational campaign moments after the CAPERS season-ending loss to the rival STFX X-Women in the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) championship match last fall on home turf at Ness Timmons Field.
"Ally came in – from day one – ready to go, and she hasn't let up," he said of her arrival for training camp a couple of months ago. Timmons added, "She was really determined; she wanted to finish her final season on a high note."
To help prepare to reach those goals, along with giving her a leg up on her desire to play professionally, he pointed out Rowe suited up in the highly competitive League 1 Ontario in her home province.
"Give it your all like it is your last game," Rowe offered in a previous interview with CBU Athletics, when asked about her career in CAPER orange, including the past two record-breaking efforts. She also noted that a key ingredient to her recipe for success has been "to practice how you play."
In what has become a national player of the year effort, Rowe led the CAPERS to an undefeated campaign – regular season and playoffs – and the program's history-making 13th conference championship banner, which made CBU the all-time leader in AUS women's soccer crowns. Rowe, who topped the AUS and U SPORTS in goals (21) and points (23), captured her third consecutive conference MVP award and fifth first-team all-star nod. She also garnered her fourth first-team All-Canadian nod this season.
The high-calibre student-athlete, who shattered the single game (6), single season (25) and all-time scoring marks for AUS women's soccer last season, continued to leave her indelible mark on conference history in 2024. This year, the four-time AUS scoring champion passed Saint Mary's legend Ross Webb (72) as the top conference career goal-getter, male or female, finishing with 77 regular-season tallies over her five stellar seasons.
"She was recognized right away," Timmons remembered of her freshman season in 2019, one in which Rowe led the AUS in goals, with 12, while capturing the AUS and U SPORTS top rookie awards; not to mention first-team spots on the conference and national All-Canadian teams.
And, of course, Rowe was far from done in what became a star-studded career.
"Ally has gotten better each year," Timmons said, noting how she has developed her skills on both ends of the pitch. He added, "Ally has done everything we have asked [of] her to improve as a player."
When it comes to her unmatched scoring prowess, Timmons described it as "natural ability," which includes knowing "where to be and [having] the skill to finish." That finish achieved in so many ways, he agreed, including with both feet, head and from a variety of distances. She is a threat from anywhere on the pitch.
"Ally just knows how to find the net," Timmons said, noting that happened while she has been the most tightly-covered and double-teamed player in the conference. Scoring at an unprecedented pace is only one piece of the puzzle, when it comes to Rowe establishing herself as one of the top AUS student-athletes of all time.
"Ally is a tremendous leader," Timmons said, noting that the second-year CAPER co-captain has approached that role – and its responsibilities – in a "really mature way."
Rowe has coupled her myriad individual accomplishments with an unwavering commitment to her team and the CAPER women's program, which includes being a key contributor to CBU securing three AUS banners. Her maturity as a leader on full display when Timmons and the CBU coaching staff asked her, at times, to play in the midfield. That occasional position change helped display her skill as an excellent playmaker, while not compromising her effectiveness as a goal scorer.
"I think I have developed so much as a leader," Rowe proudly offered, as an important aspect of her development as an all-around player.
With word of her national player of the year recognition, John Ryan – CBU Director of Athletics and Recreation – offered that Rowe has fashioned "one of the best, if not the best" women's varsity soccer careers; not only at CBU, but also in the AUS.
"What she has accomplished in her five years in the Orange and Green is simply amazing," he said. Ryan added, "People sometimes only see the goals that she scores, and she has done that better than anyone else; but what you don't see is how the rest of her game, off the ball, and her leadership skills have elevated over the years."
He agreed that evolution was front and centre during the CAPERS victory over the UNB REDS in the 2024 AUS championship match. "It was a joy seeing her take control with her teammates, at half and in the huddles, saying all the right things to elevate her team's play. That is the definition of a true champion," Ryan said.
Rowe, who will receive the Chantal Navert Memorial Award during the U SPORTS Women's Soccer Championship tournament – from Nov. 7-10 – at Dalhousie University in Halifax, is the second of only three AUS student-athletes to receive the honour, a list that includes Dr. Carl "Bucky" Buchanan CAPERS Hall of Fame member Sarah Drake.
-30-