After capping off their regular season with a 2-0 victory
against Oklahoma State on Friday night at the John B. Walker Soccer Complex,
the 14-win Red Raider soccer team traveled to San Antonio as the three seed for
the Big 12 Conference Championships.
Before the tournament gets underway on Wednesday, the Big 12
handed out the postseason accolades on Monday – and four Red Raiders made
the list.
Leading the way for Texas Tech was freshman forward Janine
Beckie garnering the Big 12 Rookie of the Year award, All-Big 12 First Team
selection and a unanimous selection to the All-Big 12 Newcomer team.
Beckie becomes only the second Red Raider to ever win the Rookie
of the Year award, Jessica Fuston winning it in 2010.
Beckie, who scored her 10th and 11th goal
of the season in the win against Oklahoma State, has been a scoring threat all
year, leading the Big 12 in shots with 106, shots per game with 5.58 per match
and ranked third in goals.
The Highlands Ranch, Colorado native finished the regular
season ranked third all-time in goals by a freshman tying Jessica Fuston’s 2010 record.
Other Red Raiders to be recognized on the All-Big 12 First Team
were sophomores Paige Strahan and Jaelene
Hinkle, one of two Red Raiders to be named to the Preseason All-Big 12 team, and
senior defender Morgan Johnson.
“We
are thrilled for these four who have been recognized by the Big 12 coaches and
the Big 12 for their outstanding play,” Texas Tech head coach Tom Stone said in
a news release. “The entire team has worked extremely hard this season to put
us in a great place heading into the Big 12 tournament, and we feel honored to
have four players recognized on the first team and to have the Rookie of the
Year.”
The All-Big 12 First Team selections mark the first for the
Red Raider soccer program since 2009, when Taylor Lytle earned her way onto the
team. The four selections to the All-Big 12 First team marks the most in a
single season for the Red Raider soccer team in program history.
It marks the second-straight season Hinkle has made it onto
the post-season teams, in 2011 the Denver, Colorado native was named to the
All-Big 12 second team and All-Big 12 Newcomer team as well.
For Johnson it marks the first post-season attention since
she was named to the All-Big 12 Newcomer team in her freshman campaign.
Johnson and Hinkle were a part of the defensive backline of
Tech that held opponents to 18 goals the entire season, which ranks third in
the Big 12 behind West Virginia and Baylor, 16 and 9 respectively.
Hinkle also contributed with five assists to lead the team
and three came in the midst of conference play.
Tech’s second-leading goal scorer, Strahan,
did not fly under the radar this season, garnering her first post-season
All-Big 12 team selection, following a freshman campaign where she found the
back of the net only once - in 2012 she netted a goal eight times.
Five of those goals ended up sealing the deal for the Red Raiders and are the
most game-winners for any Tech player since 1996.
The Red Raiders are back on the field with their All-Big 12
First Team selections and Rookie of Year on Wednesday at 2 p.m. as they face
Kansas.
All-Time All-Big 12 First Team Selections for Texas Tech
2012
Janine Beckie
Jaelene Hinkle
Morgan Johnson
Paige Strahan
2009
Taylor Lytle
1998
Jennifer Hamm
All-Time Texas Tech Big 12 Rookie of the Year Selections
2012
Janine Beckie
2010
Jessica Fuston
All-Time Texas Tech All-Big 12 Newcomer Team Selections
2012
Janine Beckie
2011
Victoria Essen
Jaelene Hinkle
2010
Whitney Sharpe
Jessica Fuston
2009
Tiffini Smith
Morgan Johnson
Dawn Ward
2008
Taylor Lytle
2006
Brittney Harrison