FRISCO, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi soccer team had five of its players earn recognition for their accomplishments both athletically and academically on Monday, as it was announced by the league office that
MyJoi Anderson,
Mai-Lisa Atis,
Emmie Barton,
Dakota Merino and
Morgan Westbury were named to the Southland Conference All-Academic Team for the 2025 season.
To be eligible for the All-Academic Team, players must have posted a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.25 and participated in at least 50 percent of team's games during the most recent campaign. As a whole, the soccer program posted a team GPA of 3.74 during the fall semester.
"We are very proud of the award these athletes have achieved," Islanders head coach
Daniel Clitnovici. "They are very deserving of this award, as they have consistently performed to the highest of levels both on and off the field. Our student-athletes here at Islanders Soccer understand the importance of academic success and have shown that through a strong academic GPA of 3.74, which is one of the best in the conference."
Anderson, a native of Shreveport, Louisiana, completed her first semester on campus with a cumulative GPA of 3.73 in her Kinesiology major. The forward finished her freshman season near the top of the team's leaderboard in many different categories, coming in tied for third in goals scored with three, tied for fourth in assists with two and tied for second in points with eight.
Atis, from Miami, Florida, adds another accolade to her trophy case, having been named to the All-Academic Second Team in both 2023 and 2024 in addition to two different All-Conference Second Team nods in 2024 and 2025. In her final season with the team, she tied for the team lead in goals with four and finished tied for second in total points with eight, which helped her move into third all-time in program history in both categories. She completed the semester with a cumulative GPA of 3.79 in her Computer Science major.
Barton, from Lakewood, Colorado, posted a cumulative GPA of 3.71 while working toward her degree in Civil Engineering, including a perfect 4.00 during the fall semester. She was named a team captain before the season and proved to be a stalwart on defense for the Islanders, starting all 19 games and leading the team with 1,662 total minutes. She played 90 minutes or more in all but three games on the year, including all 110 minutes in the team's extra-time game against SFA in the first round of the Southland Conference Soccer Championship.
Merino, a native of Syracuse, Utah, also started all 19 games during her debut season on the Island, doing so while playing 1,597 minutes in total, the third-most on the team. She finished the year scoring one goal – the game winner against Lamar on October 2 – and dishing out two assists as a defensive midfielder, and in the classroom, she posted a cumulative GPA of 3.60 while working toward her Psychology degree.
Westbury, a native of McKinney, Texas, capped off her illustrious career with the program by scoring three goals and scoring six total points, finishing tied for third and tied for fourth on the team respectively. This brought her totals with the team up to 18 goals and 44 points, with the former ranking second in school history and the latter tying for first. She graduated in December with her degree in Kinesiology, finishing with a cumulative GPA of 3.38 and a perfect 4.00 in the fall semester.
The full Southland Conference All-Academic Team can be viewed
here.
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