Six A&M-Victoria soccer players named NAIA Scholar Athletes

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Being able to succeed on the field and in the classroom is paramount to being a great student-athlete.

On Wednesday, the NAIA announced its Scholar-Athletes for the fall sports and six Texas A&M University-Victoria soccer players made the list. In order to qualify as an NAIA Scholar-Athlete, students must maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale, appear on the eligibility certificate for their sport, and have attended their institution for at least one full year.

Abree Fry and Ariana Briones represented women's soccer while Eric Thust, Tyler Kaeppeli, Elijah Jarmon and Yahir Pena represented the men's team.

Fry, who was named to the Red River Athletic Conference women's soccer's Champions of Character team, boasted a 4-1 record in goal this season with three shutouts. The Lancaster, California, native also had an assist.

Briones, a sophomore from Santa Fe, appeared in and started all 18 matches this season for the Jaguars. She helped anchor a defense which boasted a 1.44 goals allowed average and ranked in the Top 5 in the conference.

Thust, a senior from Karlsruhe, Germany, made nine appearances in goal with three starts for the men. He made a career-high 24 saves this season and had a 1.76 GAA.

Kaeppeli made 17 appearances with 16 starts in goal. The Vernon, British Columbia, native had a 7-6-2 record in goal and became the all-time saves leader at A&M-Victoria with 171 over the course of his four-year career.

Pena made 16 appearances with 15 starts in the midfield for A&M-Victoria. The Pharr native scored three times and added an assist to bring his career total to 14 goals.

Jarmon, a native of Cleburne, appeared in three matches this season for the men.

Over 6,000 student athletes across the NAIA were honored on the fall Scholar-Athlete list.