Lamar’s Eckart Named 2017 Soccer Student-Athlete of the Year
Southland Conference
FRISCO, Texas – Lamar senior midfielder M.J. Eckart is the 2017 Southland Conference Soccer Student-Athlete of the Year, the league announced Thursday in conjunction with the All-Academic First and Second Teams. Southland yearly awards are presented by
Ready Nutrition.
Eckart, a native of Flower Mound, Texas, holds a perfect 4.00 grade point average while majoring in exercise science. She was a First Team All-Southland Conference selection this season as well as an All-Tournament pick after the Cardinals’ championship run. Now a two-time all-academic honoree, Eckart was second on the team in goals scored (six) while playing 1,824 minutes.
Abilene Christian and Lamar both lead with four selections. Central Arkansas and Stephen F. Austin each earned a trio of selections while Houston Baptist, Northwestern State and Sam Houston State all earned a pair. McNeese and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi each collected one all-academic spot.
Stephen F. Austin’s Carli Arthurs and Kaitlyn Joy of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi both earned automatic selections by virtue of national CoSIDA academic recognition. Joy was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District team while Arthurs was honored with selection to the all-district list and was the Southland’s lone Academic All-American representative, earning third team distinction.
Four additional members of this year’s selections are also returning picks from the previous all-academic teams, including Abilene Christian’s Chloe Fifer and the Central Arkansas duo of Ashley Smith and Alex Moore.
Southland Conference All-Academic Teams are voted upon by a head coach, sports information director and academic/compliance staff member from each school. Student-Athletes of the Year are voted upon by an awards committee which consists of one administrator from each member school. Voting for one’s own athletes is not permitted.
To be eligible for all-academic distinction, an athlete must hold a minimum 3.00 cumulative grade point average through the semester prior to the sport’s championship, completed at least one full academic year at the nominating school prior to the current season, and participated in at least 50 percent of the team’s competitions during the most recently completed season. Student-Athlete of the Year nominees must have hold at least a 3.20 GPA and have completed at least two years of athletic competition at the nominating school, including the current season.
CoSIDA Academic All-District/All-American selections and First Team All-Conference athletes who meet all-academic nomination criteria are automatically named First Team All-Academic.
2017 Soccer Student-Athlete of the Year: M.J. Eckart, Lamar
2017 Soccer All-Academic First Team
| Pos. |
Name |
School |
Cl. |
Hometown |
GPA |
Major |
| F |
Dylan Owens* |
Abilene Christian |
Jr. |
Willard, Mo. |
3.77 |
Advertising and Public Relations |
| F |
Kaitlyn Joy^ |
A&M-Corpus Christi |
Jr. |
Dripping Springs, Texas |
4.00 |
Environmental Science |
| F |
Megan Baer |
Abilene Christian |
Sr. |
San Antonio, Texas |
3.91 |
Communication Disorders |
| MF |
M.J. Eckart*2 |
Lamar |
Sr. |
Flower Mound, Texas |
4.00 |
Exercise Science |
| MF |
Hanna Barker* |
Stephen F. Austin |
Sr. |
Farmers Branch, Texas |
3.23 |
Kinesiology |
| MF |
Beryl Smith |
Sam Houston State |
Sr. |
The Woodlands, Texas |
4.00 |
Food Science and Nutrition |
| D |
Carli Arthurs^% |
Stephen F. Austin |
So. |
Lewisville, Texas |
4.00 |
Mathematics |
| D |
Stacia Carroll* |
Central Arkansas |
Sr. |
South Jordan, Utah |
3.71 |
Health Science/Physical Therapy |
| D |
Marie Lund* |
Lamar |
Sr. |
Bergen, Norway |
3.38 |
General Business |
| GK |
Lauren Lovejoy |
Lamar |
Sr. |
Port Neches, Texas |
3.25 |
Kinesiology |
| F |
Taylor Pritchard |
Sam Houston State |
So. |
Helotes, Texas |
3.76 |
Kinesiology |
2017 Soccer All-Academic Second Team
| Pos. |
Name |
School |
Cl. |
Hometown |
GPA |
Major |
| F |
Ashley Smith2 |
Central Arkansas |
Jr. |
Plano, Texas |
3.81 |
Management |
| F |
Madison Hall |
Stephen F. Austin |
Sr. |
Shreveport, La. |
3.25 |
Kinesiology |
| F |
Chloe Fifer2 |
Abilene Christian |
Sr. |
McKinney, Texas |
3.87 |
Interdisciplinary Programs |
| MF |
Ellee Hall2 |
Houston Baptist |
Sr. |
Uintah, Utah |
3.55 |
Biology |
| MF |
Alex Moore2 |
Central Arkansas |
Sr. |
Yukon, Okla. |
3.40 |
Nursing |
| MF |
Jayden Wheeler |
Northwestern State |
So. |
Heath, Texas |
4.00 |
Education |
| D |
Shay Johnson |
Abilene Christian |
So. |
Coppell, Texas |
3.90 |
Communication Disorders |
| D |
Megan Rickert |
Houston Baptist |
So. |
Round Rock, Texas |
4.00 |
Nursing |
| D |
Nikki Schaaf |
McNeese |
Sr. |
Cypress, Texas |
3.61 |
Nursing |
| GK |
Alex Latham |
Northwestern State |
Sr. |
Bradenton, Fla. |
3.84 |
Accounting |
| F |
Juliana Ocampo |
Lamar |
Jr. |
Bogotá, Colombia |
3.68 |
Management |
* Automatic selection; First Team All-Conference
^ Automatic selection; CoSIDA Academic All-District
% Automatic selection; CoSIDA Third Team Academic All-American
2 Two-time All-Academic selection
# At-Large Selection