Illig Earns Academic All-America Honors
12/17/2025 12:05:00 PM | Women's Soccer
East Lansing, Mich. -- Senior Maggie Illig (Troy, Mo.) has earned Academic All-America honors, as announced by the College Sports Communicators (CSC) on Wednesday.
Illig is the fifth Spartan women's soccer player to earn CSC (formerly CoSIDA) Academic All-America honors – she joins Laura Heyboer (2011), Gabrielle Garuder (2015), Ruby Diodati (2022) and Justina Gaynor (2023, 2024) with the top academic honor in collegiate athletics. She and five others (Kennedy Bell, Mimi Hallier, Bella Najera, Emerson Sargeant, and Renee Watson) earned 2025 Academic All-District distinction.
Illig is a standout both on the pitch and in the classroom - a 3.963 student, Illig graduated in early December with her degree in Kinesiology. She is a three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection and twice was selected for the CSC Academic All-District squad. On the field, she was the anchor of MSU's defense that recorded 10 shutouts in 2025, and allowed one goal or fewer in 21 of 25 games, a Spartan defense that helped deliver a 1.15 GAA in front of a pair of first-year keepers. She also compiled a career best offensive portfolio with three goals (which matched her career total from her first three years) and seven points.
As a senior, she was named to preseason watch lists in the Big Ten, United Soccer Coaches Defenders to Watch, as well as the Hermann Trophy Watch List as the best player in collegiate soccer. At the conclusion of the season, she earned All-America honors (third team) after earning both All-Big Ten and United Soccer Coaches All-North region honors twice.
Over her four seasons in Green and White, she played in 81 career games, good for fifth place all-time in the MSU record book. She started 63 of her final 66 games over her sophomore, junior, and senior seasons, including all 25 in her final campaign. She was a part of two Big Ten championship squads (2022, 2023) as well the first-ever MSU women's soccer graduating class to make four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. The Spartans won at least one NCAA Tournament game in each of her varsity seasons, including advancing to the Elite Eight in 2025 after back-to-back Sweet 16's in 2023 and 2024.
Illig and the Spartans concluded the 2025 season at 15-4-6 and fell to top-ranked (and tournament overall No. 1 seed) Stanford in the NCAA quarterfinals. MSU finished second in the Big Ten regular season and played to a 1-1 draw with league champ Washington in the Big Ten Tournament championship game, falling in penalty kicks. In the final poll of 2025, MSU was ranked seventh, its highest-ever end-of-season ranking. MSU will return 18 players and nine starters in 2026, and will add the No. 8 recruiting class to its roster.
Illig is the fifth Spartan women's soccer player to earn CSC (formerly CoSIDA) Academic All-America honors – she joins Laura Heyboer (2011), Gabrielle Garuder (2015), Ruby Diodati (2022) and Justina Gaynor (2023, 2024) with the top academic honor in collegiate athletics. She and five others (Kennedy Bell, Mimi Hallier, Bella Najera, Emerson Sargeant, and Renee Watson) earned 2025 Academic All-District distinction.
Illig is a standout both on the pitch and in the classroom - a 3.963 student, Illig graduated in early December with her degree in Kinesiology. She is a three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection and twice was selected for the CSC Academic All-District squad. On the field, she was the anchor of MSU's defense that recorded 10 shutouts in 2025, and allowed one goal or fewer in 21 of 25 games, a Spartan defense that helped deliver a 1.15 GAA in front of a pair of first-year keepers. She also compiled a career best offensive portfolio with three goals (which matched her career total from her first three years) and seven points.
As a senior, she was named to preseason watch lists in the Big Ten, United Soccer Coaches Defenders to Watch, as well as the Hermann Trophy Watch List as the best player in collegiate soccer. At the conclusion of the season, she earned All-America honors (third team) after earning both All-Big Ten and United Soccer Coaches All-North region honors twice.
Over her four seasons in Green and White, she played in 81 career games, good for fifth place all-time in the MSU record book. She started 63 of her final 66 games over her sophomore, junior, and senior seasons, including all 25 in her final campaign. She was a part of two Big Ten championship squads (2022, 2023) as well the first-ever MSU women's soccer graduating class to make four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. The Spartans won at least one NCAA Tournament game in each of her varsity seasons, including advancing to the Elite Eight in 2025 after back-to-back Sweet 16's in 2023 and 2024.
Illig and the Spartans concluded the 2025 season at 15-4-6 and fell to top-ranked (and tournament overall No. 1 seed) Stanford in the NCAA quarterfinals. MSU finished second in the Big Ten regular season and played to a 1-1 draw with league champ Washington in the Big Ten Tournament championship game, falling in penalty kicks. In the final poll of 2025, MSU was ranked seventh, its highest-ever end-of-season ranking. MSU will return 18 players and nine starters in 2026, and will add the No. 8 recruiting class to its roster.
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