BEAUMONT, Texas - Lamar University forward
Lauren Smith has been named Southland Conference Newcomer and Forward of the Year, along with a first team All-SLC nod, announced league officials Monday morning. In addition, fellow junior transfer
Kam Jalayer and sophomore transfer
Sydney Williams garnered second-team recognition.
Smith (Birmingham, England) emerged as one of the conference's top scorers. Posting a team-high 12 goals, she shared the conference lead with SLC Player of the Year Emily Senatore (Northwestern State). Accumulating a conference-best 29 points with five assists, Smith also recorded a pair of multi-goal games, including a school-tying mark of four in one game joining Lucy Ashworth and Esther Okoronkwo, who both achieved this feat in 2019. She tallied both goals in LU's 2-0 victory over the regular-season champion Northwestern State (10/23/25). These performances earned her two SLC Offensive Player of the Week honors.
Jalayer (Lake Elsinore, Calif.) appeared in all 18 matches and scored a goal against both Texas Southern (9/4/25) and TAMU-SA (9/11/25). While she finished third overall in the conference's assists category with seven, six of them came against SLC opponents, the most of anyone in the 10-game conference schedule. This included two against East Texas A&M (9/18/25) and for both goals against NSU.
Williams (Allen, Texas) started in 13 matches while posting two goals and dishing out two assists. She scored one of LU's 11 goals against the Jaguars (9/11/25) and also netted the game-winner against Houston Christian (9/25/25).
Head coach
Nathan Kogut has produced 22 all-conference selections in his first four seasons with the program. Smith becomes the 15th first-teamer and the first Cardinal to win both newcomer and forward of the year, while Jalayer and Williams make it seven second-team members.
Big Red finished the regular season 6-7-5 overall and 3-3-4 in SLC play, and enters the conference tournament as the sixth seed. This year, the Cardinals will be hosting the conference tournament and will start their run against third-seeded Southeastern Louisiana Tuesday. The match will kick off at 7:00 p.m., and will be streamed on ESPN+. Should LU win, it will advance to Thursday's semifinal round to take on either No. 2 Stephen F. Austin or No. 7 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
