Texas Lutheran's Simien; Trinity's Meyer Highlight 2023 All-SCAC Women's Soccer Team

Texas Lutheran's Simien; Trinity's Meyer Highlight 2023 All-SCAC Women's Soccer Team

HOUSTON, Texas – In exclusive voting by the league’s head soccer coaches and sports information directors, Alyssa Simien of Texas Lutheran University was selected 2023 SCAC Offensive Player-of-the-Year for the second consecutive year while Trinity University’s Bailey Meyer was tabbed as SCAC Defensive Player-of-the-Year – the third straight year she has received the honor. Complete Release

In that same balloting, Texas Lutheran’s Caitlin Roach earned Newcomer-of-the-Year honors while Trinity’s Dylan Harrison was named SCAC Coach-of-the-Year for the second consecutive year.

A junior forward from San Antonio, Texas, Alyssa Simien, who earned back-to-back SCAC Offensive Player-of-the-Week honors to open the 2023 season, currently leads the league in goals scored (11), goals scored per game (0.65), points (26), points per game (1.53) and shots on goal (30) and is tied for the conference lead in game-winning goals (four). She is also third in shots (47) and tied for fifth with four assists. The Texas Woman’s University transfer has been brilliant in her two years in Seguin, totaling 27 goals and seven assists for 61 points in 36 matches, including notching at least a point in 22 of those games. She is just the second Texas Lutheran player to earn SCAC Offensive Player-of-the-Year honors and the first to win the award twice. After sharing the honor with Trinity’s Molly Sheridan a season ago, 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 received 11 votes in the balloting for Offensive Player-of-the-Year honors, followed by junior forward Michaela Bosco of Trinity who received the remaining five first-place votes.

Trinity’s Bailey Meyer, a graduate defender from Southlake, Texas and a two-time SCAC Defensive Player-of-the-Week selection this season, anchored a Tiger defensive squad that has surrendered the fewest goals in league play, allowing just one goal in seven conference games with a goals-against-average of 0.14. For the season, Trinity is currently first in goals against average (0.81) and second in goals allowed (13) and has posted seven shutouts in its last eight matches. She also pitched in offensively for the Tigers, scoring four goals and assisting on three others for 11 points, with three of the goals coming during conference competition. Meyer is just the ninth women’s player in league history to earn First Team All-SCAC honors four times in a career, and she is the first player in SCAC history to win three Defensive Player-of-the-Year awards. One of just two players to win the award in consecutive years – joining former Trinity standout Kristen Canepa who was honored in back-to-back seasons in 2018 and 2019 – Meyer’s selection represents the 12th time a Trinity player has taken home the league’s top defensive honor.

Meyer, a two-time United Soccer Coaches All-American, was the clear choice for Defensive Player-of-the-year, receiving 10 first-place votes in the selection process. Sophomore defender Lauren Powell of Southwestern University was next in the balloting with three votes while sophomore defender Ashlyn Suarez of Texas Lutheran garnered two votes. Junior defender Bryanna Jasso of University of St. Thomas picked up the remaining first-place vote.

Caitlin Roach, a first-year defender from Manvel, Texas, made an immediate impact for Texas Lutheran, helping bolster a defense that allowed just five goals in conference play (second-best in the league) and held opponents scoreless four times over the seven-game conference slate. A highlight of her freshman campaign included earning SCAC Defensive Player-of-the-Year honors in Week 8 when she held down the back line of the Bulldog defense that posted back-to-back conference shutout victories over Austin College and Dallas. Roach is the first defender to earn the league’s top newcomer honor since Lilah Bevins of Trinity in 2017 and becomes the third TLU player to receive the award, following current teammate Kelly Wolfe (2020-21) and Zoe Gulick, who earned a share of the honor in 2014.

Roach received six votes in tightly contested Newcomer-of-the-Year balloting, one more than Trinity first-year midfielder Malea Casar who had five first-place votes. First-year goalkeeper Ella Charles of University of Dallas was next with three votes and first-year midfielder Mia Morales of Southwestern picked up the remaining two first-place votes.

In his eighth season at the helm of the Trinity program, Dylan Harrison led the Tigers to their 14th SCAC women’s soccer regular season title in the last 15 years, with a perfect 7-0-0 mark. Heading into the SCAC Tournament, this year’s edition of the Tigers has posted the most goals (44) and assists (34) in the conference – which would be the program’s 19th consecutive year to lead the league in both categories. Trinity also leads the conference in GAA average, allowing just 13 goals all season. Only one of those scores occurred in conference competition as the Tigers posted a 27-1 goal differential over the course of league play. The award marks the fifth time in Harrison’s career and the 19th time a Trinity head coach has been named SCAC Women’s Soccer Coach-of-the-Year. His five total COTY honors account for the third most by a single coach in women’s soccer history, trailing only former Trinity head coaches Lance Key (seven) and Nick Cowell (six).

To view the entire 2023 All-SCAC Women's Soccer Team, click here

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