Tessa Carlin and Cayman Tamez Have Been Named To All C-USA Third Team
IRVING, Texas – UTEP soccer standouts Tessa Carlin and Cayman Tamez have been named to the All-Conference USA third team, the league office announced Monday. Additionally Tamez was selected to the C-USA All-Freshman team. It marks the first time since 2003 that UTEP has multiple underclassmen earn all-conference honors.
“Congratulations to Tessa and Cayman!” UTEP interim head coach Stewart Givens said. “They both had strong years and made teams take notice with consistent, impactful performances week in and week out.”
Carlin set the tone for the team offensively by scoring three times and recording an assist for a squad-best seven points. She had a flair for the dramatic with two match winners. The sophomore also showed calm under pressure with two clinical finishes on penalty kicks.
The Miners were perfect when she scored. Carlin put away chances in victories against NM State (2/11/21), LA Tech (2/28/21) and UAB (3/14/21). She also added an assist against the Aggies.
“I know Tessa would have liked to get on the score sheet more in this shortened season but she created chances and opportunities for herself and others in every game and is always a threat,” Givens said. “She also stepped up as a vocal leader this year as she became more comfortable with our philosophy.”
Tamez was a key cog in the center of UTEP’s defense who started 10 of 11 games played and logged an average of 89 minutes per match. She connected on 50 passes per match at a rate of 82 percent. The freshman won 61 percent of her challenges, including 71 percent in the air. She recovered nine balls per contest to go along with 10 free ball pick-ups and 10 ball interceptions.
She also won 62 percent of her challenges in the defensive area and claimed 58 percent of all of her tackles.
“Cayman had a great freshman campaign and quickly became a key component for our possession based style of play,” Givens said. “Cayman is a bit of an unsung hero as her stats don’t show up on the box score but she averaged over eight miles a game doing the dirty work and disrupting opponents attacks while also averaging 82% passing accuracy to lead the team in that category.”
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