Lamar trio of Panis, Alaniz & Ellis sweep Week 5 Women’s Soccer Players of the Week awards.

FRISCO, Texas – Lamar’s Nicole Panis, Arely Alaniz, and Cariel Ellis have swept this week’s Jersey Mike’s Southland Conference Women’s Soccer Player of the Week awards, as announced by the conference office on Tuesday. Lamar defeated #17 Xavier 1-0 last Thursday, before opening Conference play with a 2-0 win over UIW in San Antonio on Sunday.

Goalkeeper of the Week: Nicole Panis, Lamar – Gr. – Opmeer, Netherlands (MBO College Amstelland)
Panis made 17 saves across both Lamar wins this week, including a stunning 13-save performance in the upset victory over #17 Xavier. In that game, Panis made a stunning double save from a penalty, to keep the score level at 0-0 at the time. Following on from that, she kept a second clean sheet of the week in the road win at UIW, meaning that the Cardinals are now riding a program-best streak of five straight shutout wins. Panis has now kept a league-high six clean sheets in nine games this season, and also leads the Southland in goals against average and total saves.

Defensive Player of the Week: Arely Alaniz, Lamar, – Sr. – Deer Park, TX (Deer Park High School)
Alaniz earned her first goal involvement of the season, with the assist for the Cardinals’ game-winning goal against #17 Xavier, and anchored the Lamar defensive effort in both wins this past week. Alaniz also contributed offensively, peppering the UIW goal with five shots - all of which hit the target - during the Cardinals vs Cardinals matchup on Sunday. Alaniz ranks in the Top 5 in the Southland for shots on goal, and in the Top 10 for total shots.

Offensive Player of the Week: Cariel Ellis, Lamar – Gr. – Madison, Miss. (Madison Central High School)
Ellis scored game-winning goals against both #17 Xavier, and UIW this past weekend. Ellis tucked home Arely Alaniz’s cross in the 71st minute to help defeat the Musketeers, and then finished across the keeper against UIW in the 8th minute, to give Lamar a 1-0 lead in both instances. Ellis leads the Cardinals’ offense with four goals and one assist in nine games this season. Ellis is number one in the SLC in total shots, shots on goal, and game-winning goals, as well as ranking in the Top 5 in goals.

2023 Southland Women’s Soccer Players of the Week

Date	Goalkeeper	Defensive	Offensive
Aug. 22	Makenzie Hall, UIW	Eve Clarkson, UIW	Kelsey Fuller, Southeastern
Aug. 29	Sophia Dean, Texas A&M-Commerce	Ellie Mai Sanford, UIW	Kaydence Ramirez, Texas A&M-Commerce
Sept. 5	Kennedy Stelling, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi	Lauren Andre, Nicholls	Maggie Murray, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Sept. 12	Libe Banuelos, Northwestern State	Rachel Loetzer, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi	Hollie Massey, Lamar
Sept. 19	Nicole Panis, Lamar	Arely Alaniz, Lamar	Cariel Ellis, Lamar

Southland weekly award winners are nominated and voted upon by each school’s sports information director. Voting for one’s own athlete is not permitted. To earn honorable mention, a student-athlete must appear on 25 percent of ballots.

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