In more than a decade of broadcasting Master's women's basketball games, Dave Caldwell has never seen anyone quite like
Stephanie Soares.
"I have never seen a player who dominates the sport like Stephanie," said Caldwell, a veteran play-by-play commentator, who has worked games for Fox Sports West and ESPN. "The confidence she has to beat you with her defense, to beat you down in the low post, to beat you from behind the three-point arc, clearly showed all year."
Obviously, Caldwell isn't alone in his high opinion of Soares, who was named NAIA Division 1 Player of the Year on Thursday in a news release that also announced Mustang senior Hannah Ostrom as an honorable mention NAIA All-American.
Soares is the first woman in Master's history to earn an NAIA Player of the Year award, and just the second TMU athlete to do so, joining baseball's Aaron Shackelford, who did it in 2019.
Soares, a 6-foot-6 sophomore, led NAIA Division 1 in blocked shots and rebounding and was second in scoring. She recorded a NAIA-best 24 double-doubles and finished the season with a masterful 35-point, 22-rebound showing in the Golden State Athletic Conference tournament championship game.
But while that final performance remains vivid in Sabrina Thompson's mind, the senior point guard holds another favorite memory of Soares: Soares' pregame dancing.
"She's a first-team All-American dancer," Thompson said.
Before Thursday, Soares had already added hardware to a trophy case that was low on space.
She was named the GSAC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year for the second time in as many seasons, and last week she was tabbed the Women's Basketball Coaches Association NAIA Player of the Year.
She likely would have traded all of it for a run at a national title in Billings, Montana, this month. The Mustangs were among the favorites to win the NAIA Division 1 tournament, which was canceled to help combat the spread of the coronavirus.
"The abrupt end to the season has made her hungrier than ever," Master's head coach Dan Waldeck said of Soares, who averaged 20.7 points, 13.6 rebounds and 4.9 blocks. "It's going to be crazy to see how much she improves in an extended offseason."
Senior guard Brooke Bailey foresees a similar trajectory for a player who was already "always in the gym."
"Every time I walked in, she was there getting extra shots up, or doing an extra workout," Bailey said of Soares. "She would be the first one in the gym and the last one out. You never had to question Steph's commitment or dedication to the game."
Bailey believes that work ethic rubbed off on Soares' teammates.
"She's the type of player who makes you better everyday in practice," Bailey said. "Her ability to be so versatile and dominant on all areas of the court makes her truly unstoppable. She deserves this award and I couldn't be more proud of her."
Waldeck felt a similar sentiment for Ostrom, who posted career highs across the board on the way to her first NAIA All-American award.
"She's more than deserving of the accolades, and she represented our program with such excellence from day one," he said. "It's only fitting that she closes her career with this accomplishment."
After missing eight games due to injury as a junior, Ostrom cemented herself as one of TMU's go-to scorers as a senior.
Ostrom averaged a career-high 10.4 points with 4.7 rebounds and nearly two assists.
She was named to the All-GSAC team for the first time in her career.
"Being recognized as an All-American is an honor and something I'm grateful for," Ostrom said. "And while it's a goal I had set for myself as a freshman, it fails in comparison to all of the amazing relationships I made throughout my four years, from my sweet teammates and trainers to our fans and coaches."
Ostrom scored a season-high 19 points in a win over La Sierra University on Dec. 17, a victory that was part of TMU's program-record 19-0 start.
The Mustangs earned their first-ever national No. 1 ranking in January and won a program-record 29 games in all.
