Simien, Roach Earn SCAC Awards; Program Record Ten Named to All-SCAC

SEGUIN, Texas --  A program record ten Texas Lutheran women's soccer players were all recognized by the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) this afternoon as the SCAC awards and All-SCAC Teams for the women's soccer season were announced on Friday afternoon.

Alyssa Simien (San Antonio/Warren) was selected as the SCAC Offensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season and Caitlin Roach (Manvel/Manvel) was named the SCAC Newcomer of the Year. TLU put four athletes on the All-SCAC First Team, one player on the Second Team, three players on the All-Freshman Team while four players earned All-SCAC Honorable Mention.

Simien became the first player in TLU women's soccer history to win multiple SCAC Offensive Player of the Year honors and first to repeat as SCAC Offensive Player of the Year. Simien is one of two Bulldogs to win the award with Sioned Kirkpatrick earning the honor in 2015. Simien is the fifth player in league history to earn back-to-back Offensive Player-of-the-Year awards since the league started recognizing both an Offensive and a Defensive POTY in 2003. Simien put together yet another terrific season for the Bulldogs as she led the conference with 11 goals, four of which came in conference play. Simien is the first Bulldog since Sioned Kirkpatrick in 2012-13 to have back-to-back double digit goal scoring seasons. Simien also added four assists which ranked fifth in the SCAC. Simien was one of two players (Klarissa Martinez) to earn multiple SCAC Offensive Player of the Week honors this season. Simien was also named to the All-SCAC First Team for the second time in her career.

Caitlin Roach (Manvel/Manvel) broke onto the scene this year, starting 16 matches for the Bulldogs as a freshman, and became one of the conference's most notorious defenders in the process. Roach earned Defensive Player of the Week honors earlier in the season and was a pivotal part of the Bulldogs possessing one of the stingiest defenses in the SCAC in 2023. Roach is the first defender to earn the league's top newcomer honor since Lilah Bevins of Trinity in 2017. Roach is the third Bulldog to earn SCAC Newcomer of the Year honors - joining teammate Kelly Wolfe (2020-21) and Zoe Gulick (2014).

Joining Simien and Roach on the All-SCAC First Team are sophomores Klarissa Martinez (Houston/Incarnate Word Academy) and Ana Parra (San Antonio/Brennan) who earn their second career All-SCAC honors and first career All-SCAC First Team honors. Martinez was electric for the Bulldogs finishing second only to Simien in goals scored with 10 goals scored, scoring a SCAC-leading six goals in conference play. Martinez was also second in points (22) and tied for first in game winners (4). For the second consecutive season, Ana Parra led the SCAC in assists with six on the season. With one more assist, Parra will enter the top five in program history in assists.

Sophomore defender Ashlyn Suarez (Schertz/Clemens) earned her first career All-SCAC honor as a member of the All-SCAC Second Team.

Bailey Havens (Friendswood/Friendswood), Callie Brame (San Antonio/Churchill), Kelly Wolfe (San Antonio/Churchill), and Alysa Marquez (Miami, FL/Dr. Michael Krop) were all named All-SCAC Honorable Mention. This is Wolfe's fourth consecutive All-Conference honor as she was named All-SCAC First Team in 2022 and All-SCAC Honorable Mention in 2020-21 and 2021. This is the first All-SCAC honors for Brame, Havens, and Marquez.

Brame led the SCAC in shots with 48 and tallied four goals and four assists in her first season as a Bulldog.

Marquez was a standout in goal for the Bulldogs this season. Marquez helped lead the Bulldogs to three of their four shutouts this season, starting nine and making 14 overall appearances as a freshman. Marquez would also be named to the All-SCAC Freshman Team.

Joining Marquez on the All-SCAC Freshman Team is the previously mentioned Newcomer of the Year, Caitlin Roach, and Natalia Cortez (Edinburg/Robert Vela), who recorded the game winner against Southwestern in September's non-conference match.

TLU's 10 honorees are the most in program history surpassing the previous high of six in 2021 and 2013. TLU's two award winners are tied for the most in program history with the 2020-21 season.

Texas Lutheran will begin its hunt for its first conference championship and NCAA Tournament in program history on Friday when the Bulldogs play the No. 3 seed Southwestern Pirates at 2:30 PM. All streaming and live stats links will be available on tlubulldogs.com.

For all updates on Texas Lutheran Women's Soccer, follow @tluwsoc on X (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 X (Twitter), @tlu_athletics on Instagram and TikTok, and @tlubulldogs on Facebook).