LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – In exclusive voting by the head women's soccer coaches of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), Trinity University's Yasmeen Farra was selected SCAC Offensive Player-of-the-Year while Southwestern University's Mallory Harkins was named SCAC Defensive Player-of-the-Year. Complete Release
In the same balloting, Mary Cardone of Southwestern was tabbed the league's Newcomer-of-the-Year while her head coach, Linda Hamilton, was named SCAC Coach-of-the-Year.
A senior midfielder from Austin, Texas, Yasmeen Farra currently leads the SCAC in goals scored (14), points (35), shots (74) and game-winning goals (7). She was named to the all-tournament team at last week's conference championship and is a two-time first-team All-SCAC selection. Farra finished the regular season on a roll, scoring eight goals and assisting on three more over a three week stretch which culminated with her winning three-straight SCAC Offensive Player-of-the-Week honors. She is the only player in league history to accomplish that feat, and in just one season she has surpassed the number the goals she had scored in her previous three seasons combined. Farra's selection as SCAC Offensive Player-of-the-Year represents the 11th time a Trinity has won the award and the seventh time in the last eight years.
Farra received four votes in the balloting for Offensive Player-of-the-Year, narrowly defeating sophomore forward Cailee Morgan of Schreiner University who received the remaining three first-place votes.
Mallory Harkins, a first-year defender from Austin, Texas, was charged with playing the crucial and high-stress center defender's position this season and responded by leading a defensive turnaround that saw the team's goals allowed number plummet from 39 in 2015 to 17 this season. She also pitched in on the offensive end with two goals this season, including the game-winner in a 2-0 victory over Texas Lutheran on September 7. A hard-worker who is remarkable in the air, Harkins is the first freshman in the history of the award to earn SCAC Defensive Player-of-the-Year honors. She is also the first Southwestern player to receive the conference's highest defensive award.
Harkins received five votes from the coaches in the Defensive Player-of-the-Year balloting while junior midfielder Julia Kelly of Trinity received the remaining two votes.
Mary Cardone, a first-year goalkeeper from San Antonio, Texas, posted a goals-against-average of 0.89 (fourth in the SCAC) – allowing 16 goals in 19 matches. She had 85 saves (third in the SCAC), led the league in save percentage at .842, and tied for the league lead in shutouts with seven. After leading the Pirates to the championship final, Cardone was the only goalkeeper named to the 2016 All-Tournament team. The first-year keeper was a two-time SCAC Defensive Player-of-the-Week honoree during the regular season. Cardone is the third Southwestern player to earn Newcomer-of-the-Year honors, following Laura Kromann (2006) and current teammate Sarah Bevins (2013).
Cardone received three votes in the Newcomer-of-the-Year voting while sophomore forward Kati-Jayde Cunningham of Centenary College and first-year midfielder Elisa Duran of the University of Dallas received two votes each.
In her second season at the helm of the Southwestern program, Linda Hamilton led a turnaround that saw the Pirates improve by 3.5 games from last season's 7-11-2 team to this year's 11-8 squad. This year's team also posted eight conference wins (against four losses), the second-most conference wins for the program in a single season since Southwestern joined the SCAC prior to the 1994 season. In addition, the team saw a dramatic improvement in goal differential as the 2015 squad scored just 20 goals while allowing 39 (-19) while this year's team scored 38 and allowed only 17 (+21). Hamilton has also led Southwestern to the conference final each of her two seasons in Georgetown. This marks the third time a Southwestern coach has received SCAC Women's Soccer Coach of the Year honors and the first since Jack Flatau in 2007.
Hamilton received five votes from her peers in the COTY voting while Trinity's Dylan Harrison received the remaining two votes.
To view the entire 2016 All-SCAC Women's Soccer Team, click here.