Alyssa Simien's Hat Trick Leads TLU Past Austin College

SHERMAN, Texas -- Sophomore Alyssa Simien (San Antonio/Warren) registered her first career hat trick to run her season goals tally to a team-high 14 as Texas Lutheran (10-6-1, 10-2 SCAC) defeated Austin College (0-14-1, 0-12 SCAC) 4-0 on Sunday afternoon from Jack R. Pierce Memorial Soccer Complex in Sherman, Texas.

The hat trick is the first for a Bulldog since Raquel Morris had three against Austin College on October 4, 2019 and the 26th in program history. Sunday marked the second consecutive multi-goal game of the weekend for the San Antonio native and fifth of the season. With 14 goals on the season, Simien now matches TLU Hall of Famer Casey Rheman for most goals by a first-year player in TLU Women's Soccer history.

Simien got the scoring started in the opening minute of the game as put away a goal a minute and twelve seconds into the match on TLU's first shot attempt. The goal, assisted by Ana Parra (San Antonio/Brennan) is the fourth fastest goal scored in program history. The assist from Parra was her seventh of the season - the fourth most in a single-season in program history. Parra needs four more assists to match the program record of 11 assists in a single-season set by Katie Buehler in 2007. The goal was also Simien's fifth game-winner of the season - ranking second in the SCAC and third most in a single-season in program history.

Simien would find her second goal of the day in the 13th minute, this time assisted by senior Samantha Martinez (Schertz/Clemens). Elaina Barrientes (Lubbock/Coronado) made it 3-0 in the 45th minute as she lofted the ball under the crossbar from the right wing for her fourth goal of the campaign.

Simien completed the hat trick in the 88th minute as she scored via an assist from Jacqueline Sauceda (Houston/J. Frank Dobie) - her first assist of her collegiate career.

The Bulldogs put 13 of their 22 shots on target and held the 'Roos to nine total shots. Texas Lutheran played all three goalkeepers on Sunday with senior goalkeeper Elena Rivera (New Braunfels/Canyon) saving her lone shot faced in-goal in the first half. Sophomore Madison Johnson (Pflugerville/Hendrickson) saved the only other Austin College shot on goal of the day as the Bulldogs recorded their fifth shutout of the season.

Texas Lutheran will now prepare to visit Schreiner University for a 2 PM match on Friday, Oct. 28, at Mountaineer Soccer Field in Kerrville, Texas. All streaming and live stats links can be found on tlubulldogs.com.

For all updates on Texas Lutheran Women's Soccer, follow @tluwsoc on Twitter and Instagram and as always you can find updates on all Texas Lutheran athletics on tlubulldogs.com and all official TLU social media channels (@tluathletics on Twitter, @tlu_athletics on Instagram and TikTok, and @tlubulldogs on Facebook).