College soccer: Albuquerqueans impact Trinity University

By Kevin Hendricks, Albuquerque Journal

The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference women’s soccer weekly awards recently had a distinct Albuquerque flavor despite the honors going to a pair of teammates from a university in Texas.

Jennifer White, an Albuquerque Academy grad, recently was honored for her defensive prowess with the D-III Tigers. (Courtesy Of Trinity University)

On Sept. 23, Sandia High graduate Michelle Lanier, a senior at Trinity University in San Antonio, was named SCAC Co-Player of the Week. Teammate Jennifer White, an Albuquerque Academy grad, was the SCAC Defensive Player of the Week.

“It feels really great,” White said. “It’s always a team effort but it’s nice to be recognized individually.”

Lanier was also the Division III national player of the week, as chosen by coaches, after she totaled three goals and three assists in wins over Texas Lutheran on Sept. 20 and over Schreiner on Sept. 22.

Michelle Lanier, who played at Sandia, is one of Trinity’s highest-scoring forwards, with six goals and six assists.(Courtesy Of Trinity University)

The recognition was extra sweet for Lanier, who played just four games during her freshman year at Trinity because of a torn hamstring.

“I came in with these big expectations and was limited by something that was out of my control,” Lanier said. “I overcame a lot adversity so it’s just given me really good perspective and taught me not to take anything for granted and go out with everything I have every time I take the field.”

Lanier and White aren’t the only Trinity teammates with Albuquerque roots. Juniors Riah Risk, from Academy, and Shelby Hopkins, from Sandia, also play for the Tigers.

“It was pretty much a coincidence,” Lanier said. “We joke that we have a clan or a cult going on now because we keep bringing in Albuquerque kids, but really it was just by chance that we all ended up here.”

And how did White end up at Trinity?

Read the full article by Kevin Hendricks from Albuquerque Journal.