Stephen F. Austin’s Dunnigan Named Southland Conference Soccer Student-Athlete of the Year

12/9/2015 10:18:13 AM

FRISCO, Texas – Stephen F. Austin junior defender Brooke Dunnigan has been named the Southland Conference Soccer Student-Athlete of the Year, the league office announced Wednesday in conjunction with the release of the soccer all-academic teams.

Dunnigan, a junior defender from Round Rock, Texas (Vista Ridge HS), led SFA to an 8-1-2 record in Southland Conference play and the program’s fifth consecutive league title during the 2015 season. She anchored a Ladyjack back line that ranked first in the conference in goals allowed (5), goals against average (0.43) and shutouts (6) during the conference slate and was named to the 2015 All-Southland Conference First Team at the conclusion of the year. She started all 19 games for the Ladyjacks and was the only SFA player to play every minute of the season.

Also garnering spots on the NSCAA All-Central Region Third Team and Southland Conference All-Tournament Team in 2015, Dunnigan boasts a 3.92 GPA as a food and nutrition dietetics major. She earns a place on the league’s All-Academic First Team for the second straight season for her efforts in the classroom.

The All-Academic First Team is comprised of nine automatic selection. UIW junior forward Abigail Koenigs is an automatic selection posting a 3.86 in biology making 14 starts and scoring four goals for the Cardinals. Along with Dunnigan, Stephen F. Austin grabbed two more automatic selections. Junior forward Carolina Orsi played in 12 games for the Ladyjacks with a 4.00 in Kinesiology. Junior midfielder Amanda Doyle posted a 3.57 in Kinesiology while starting all 19 games for the Ladyjacks with 7 goals and the 2015 Southland Conference Player of the Year.

Abilene Christian picked up one automatic bid with junior defender Kelsie Roberts who is majoring in biochemistry while maintaining a perfect 4.00 GPA. Houston Baptist also had one automatic selection on the first team with senior midfielder Blake Martin who posted a 4.00 in nursing. She earned NSCAA Scholar All-Region honors last season and First Team CoSIDA Academic All-District accolades this season.

Lamar senior defender Megan Campbell is an automatic selection as she makes her second appearance on the all-academic team. Campbell has a 3.94 in mechanical engineering while grabbing one goal for the Cardinals. Lamar junior forward Alexus Aviles also claimed a spot on the first team after posting a 4.00 in Kinesiology while connecting on nine goals.

Sam Houston State picked up two first-team automatic selections with senior midfielder Mariah Titus and sophomore defender Caitlin Schwartz. Titus has a 3.32 in psychology and five goals on the pitch. Schwartz posted a 3.92 in food and nutrition dietetics with one goal as a defender. Also representing the Bearkats is senior goalkeeper Kylie Hambleton, who is making her third all-academic appearance. Hambleton earned seven shutouts and grabbed 96 saves on the season.

Northwestern State senior midfielder Cassandra Briscoe earned the at-large selection after earning a 3.76 in mass communication with five goals on the season.

SFA led all schools with six student-athletes between the two teams while Sam Houston State had four. Lamar earned three spots with Abilene Christian, Houston Baptist and Northwestern State each claiming two spots. UIW, McNeese State and Nicholls had one selection.

The Southland Conference awards committee, which consists of one administrator from each of the 13 member universities, voted for the student-athlete of the year. The Southland student-athlete of the year award is presented to the one student-athlete who achieves excellence in both academics and athletics. All nominees shall have earned at least a 3.2 GPA on a 4.0 scale, and demonstrated athletics achievement for at least two years at the nominating institution.

The All-Academic teams are voted on by the head coaches, sports information directors and academic advisors from each Southland Conference university. Student-athletes must possess a 3.0 cumulative GPA, have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution and participated in at least 50 percent of the team’s competition to qualify for the all-academic squad.

2015 Southland Conference All-Academic Teams

First Team
Name	School	Position	Cl.	GPA	Major
Abigail Koenigs*	UIW	Forward	Jr.	3.86	Biology
Carolina Orsi*	Stephen F. Austin	Forward	Jr.	4.00	Kinesiology
Alexus Aviles	Lamar	Forward	So.	3.74	Nutrition
Blake Martin*^{, 3}	Houston Baptist	Midfielder	Sr.	4.00	Nursing
Mariah Titus*	Sam Houston State	Midfielder	Sr.	3.32	Psychology
Amanda Doyle*^{, 2}	Stephen F. Austin	Midfielder	Jr.	3.57	Kinesiology
Kelsi Roberts*²	Abilene Christian	Defender	Jr.	4.00	Biochemistry
Megan Campbell*^{, 2}	Lamar	Defender	Sr.	3.94	Mechanical Engineering
Caitlin Schwartz*	Sam Houston State	Defender	So.	3.38	English
Brooke Dunnigan*^{, 1, 2}	Stephen F. Austin	Defender	Jr.	3.92	Food and Nutrition Dietetics
Kylie Hambleton³	Sam Houston State	Goalkeeper	Sr.	3.94	Management Information Systems
Cassandra Briscoe^	Northwestern State	Midfielder	Sr.	3.76	Mass Communication

Second Team
Mari Olastuen	Lamar	Forward	Sr.	3.57	Business
Ellee Hall	Houston Baptist	Forward	So.	3.50	Accounting
Esdeina Gonzalez	Northwestern State	Forward	So.	3.60	Business
Gabi D’Alesandro	McNeese State	Midfielder	So.	3.28	Biology Sciences
Hannah Savoie	Nicholls	Midfielder	Jr.	3.73	Business Administration
Rachel Owens²	Stephen F. Austin	Midfielder	Sr.	3.57	Mass Media
Kelly Ann Craig	Stephen F. Austin	Defender	Jr.	3.71	Geology
Chantal Kinsey	Abilene Christian	Defender	So.	3.89	Biology
Lillie Ehlert	Stephen F. Austin	Goalkeeper	Jr.	3.88	Pre-Nursing
Katie Bunch^	Sam Houston State	Defender	Sr.	3.90	Biomedical Sciences

* Automatic Selection
^At-large Selection
¹Student-Athlete of the Year
²Two-time all-academic selection
³Three-time all-academic selection