Green headlines group of All-SCAC performers for Men's Soccer
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – Texas Lutheran freshman forward Luis Green was named Thursday as the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Player of the year.
In that same balloting, Green also earned Newcomer of the Year honors while TLU head coach, Eddie Salazar, was named SCAC Coach of the Year.
Green (Monterrey, Mexico) also claimed All-SCAC First Team honors, along with four other teammates who earned All-SCAC recognition. Senior goalkeeper Brendan Soto (Georgetown, Texas), junior defender Cameron Townes (Cypress, Texas), and junior defender Eduardo Lopez-Rivera (Round Rock, Texas) each claimed spots on the Second Team, while freshmen midfielder Nicolas Medina (Houston, Texas) nabbed a spot on the Honorable Mention list.
Green made an immediate impact in his rookie season in Seguin, leading the league during the regular season in goals scored (16), points (33), shots (81) and game-winning goals (6). His 16 goals scored already stands as the third-highest total by a first-year player in SCAC history, and if he holds his lead as the league's leading goal scorer, he would become the sixth freshman to lead the league in goals scored.
In addition, the 16 goals represent the fourth-highest single-season total in TLU history and the most in the DIII era. He earned SCAC Offensive POTW honors in Week 2 when he posted a hat trick at Centenary on Sept. 7. Green's selection as SCAC Offensive Player of the Year represents the first time a freshman has won the award in the 16-year history of the award. He also is the first TLU student-athlete to take home top offensive honors since the Bulldogs joined the SCAC prior to the 2014 season.
Green received four votes in the balloting for Offensive Player of the Year honors while senior forward Austin Michaelis of Trinity – who won the award in 2016 – followed closely with three first-place votes. Senior midfielder Phillip Le of Austin College and senior forward Jake Swonke of Southwestern University split the remaining two first-place votes.
Also, the league's Newcomer of the Year, Green becomes the first player in league history to win both Offensive and Newcomer of the Year honors in the same season. He is TLU's second recipient of the award, joining current teammate Lopez-Rivera who took home a share of NOTY honors in 2016. This is Lopez-Rivera's third year to earn SCAC recognition, he also claimed a spot on last year's Honorable Mention list.
Green received eight of the coaches' votes in the balloting for Newcomer of the Year with Trinity's Jacob Galan picking up the remaining first-place vote.
In his 13th season at the helm at Texas Lutheran University, Salazar led the Bulldogs to the program's best mark since joining the SCAC prior to the 2013 season as the team produced a 9-6-0 conference record for a fourth-place regular season finish and a 10-7-0 overall mark – a four game improvement from last season. The program's previous high for conference wins (SCAC era) was seven and a victory in the conference quarterfinals would equal the Bulldogs' season high of 11 overall wins set in 2013. His 39 career conference wins places him 12th all-time in league history.
Salazar became TLU's all-time winningest men's soccer coach with a 2-1 win at Schreiner in 2017 and he is just nine wins short of the century mark headed into this weekend's conference tournament. The SCAC Coach of the Year honor is the first for Salazar.
The Bulldogs head to Georgetown, Texas today for day one of the SCAC Men's Soccer Championship Tournament. TLU, the No. 4 seed, is set to play their quarterfinal match against the University of Dallas Crusaders (No. 5 seed) today at 11 a.m. at Southwestern's Varsity Soccer Field.
To view the entire 2018 All-SCAC Men's Soccer Team, click here.