ROUND ROCK, Texas – In exclusive voting by the league's head soccer coaches and sports information directors of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), Texas Lutheran University was rewarded for its unbeaten conference regular season – the first in program history – as the Bulldogs walked away with three of the league's four major awards. Klarissa Martinez was voted SCAC Offensive Player-of-the-Year, Noelani Ajel was tabbed Defensive Player-of-the-Year and the Bulldogs' coaching staff, led by head coach Kerwin Johnson and assistant Kristine Driggers, were selected as the SCAC Coaching Staff-of-the-Year.

In addition, Kinsey Fulks of LeTourneau University was named SCAC First-Year Player-of-the-Year.

A senior forward from Houston, Texas, Martinez led an TLU offensive attack that is currently tops in the SCAC in goals (44), goals-per-game (2.59) and assists (41). Individually, Martinez enters this week's SCAC Tournament with a league-best 23 points, on the strength of five goals (tied for fifth in the SCAC) and 11 assists (tied for first in SCAC). Her 11 assists tied a program record for most assists in a single year, and she is the program's all-time leader in assists with 23. Martinez, who has started in all 17 Bulldog fixtures this year, has registered at least one point in 11 of her team's 17 contests and enters this weekend with a three-match point streak and a run of points in five of her last six contests. Martinez's selection as SCAC Offensive Player-of-the-Year represents the fifth time a TLU student-athlete has won the award and the fourth consecutive year. She joins Sioned Kirkpatrick (2015) and Alyssa Simien (2022, 2023, 2024) as previous winners of the accolade.

Martinez received 13 votes in the balloting for Offensive Player-of-the-Year honors, followed by sophomore forward Laila Brown of McMurry and junior forward Chanel Kemball-Cook of LeTourneau who each received four first-place votes. Senior midfielder Emma Cerda of St. Thomas received the final first-place vote.

Noelani Ajel, a sophomore midfielder from Cibolo, Texas, helped lead a TLU defensive effort that has posted nine shutouts (tied for first in the SCAC) coming into this week's conference tournament and boasts a goals-against-average of 0.59 (second in the SCAC). Ajel and the Bulldogs have been even more stifling in conference play with a league-best 0.30 goals-against-average, allowing just three goals and posting seven conference clean sheets. A two-year starter, Ajel has helped the team to 16 shutouts in her career and has been a key to the team's defensive efforts - not only preventing goal-scoring and transition opportunities but also limiting shot selections. Ajel and the Bulldogs enter the SCAC Tournament having allowed just four goals in their last 12 fixtures, posting eight shutouts over that stretch. The week eight SCAC Defensive Player-of-the-Week honoree, Ajel is the first TLU player to earn SCAC Defensive Player-of-the-Year honors and the program's first conference DPOTY in history.

Ajel received 10 votes from the coaches and SIDs in the Defensive Player-of-the-Year balloting, while junior goalkeeper Avery Anders of McMurry received six, first-year goalkeeper Kinsey Fulks of LeTourneau three, junior defender Karis Hickey of Concordia two and junior defender Mary-Ilyse Lehmann of St. Thomas collected the final first-place vote.

Fulks, a first-year goalkeeper from Frisco, Texas, made an immediate impact for LeTourneau, starting and playing in 16 of the YellowJackets' 17 fixtures this season. She currently ranks second in the SCAC with 64 total saves, while producing the seventh-best save percentage (.762) and goals-against-average (1.33). Fulks also lifted the YellowJackets to a program-record eight shutouts on the year. A two-time SCAC Defensive Player-of-the-Week awardee, Fulks was instrumental in the YellowJackets producing just their fifth winning season in program history, while their plus-11 goal differential is the best since 2018 and the third-best in program history.

Fulks' selection as First-Year Player-of-the-Year represents the first major award in LeTourneau's SCAC debut in women's soccer. Receiving nine first-place votes, she edged out Sydney Ferguson of St. Thomas with four first-place votes and Addison Featherstone of Ozarks and Ava Puente of Hendrix, who each received three first-place votes to round out the top four vote recipients.

In his fourth season at the helm of the Texas Lutheran program, Kerwin Johnson led the Bulldogs to their first-ever SCAC regular season crown and unbeaten SCAC regular season with a conference record of 9-0-1. Heading into this week's SCAC Tournament, coach Johnson and the Bulldogs are currently riding a 12-match unbeaten streak, the longest in program history. Through his first four seasons, Johnson has produced a remarkable 33-6-2 record in league play, an .829 winning percentage. The award is the first under Johnson's leadership but the second time TLU has secured SCAC Staff-of-the-Year honors (2021).

For entire 2025 All-SCAC Women's Soccer Team, click here.