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LU’s soccer team continues to be honored by the United Soccer Coaches organization for the success of last season. This time though, the squad is being honored for their work off the field.
The Cardinals were selected as one the USC’s 801 College Team Academic Award winners. To become a recipient of this honor, Big Red and 493 other women’s programs had to earn a collective grade point average of 3.0 or higher from the 2022-23 academic year. The Cardinals finished with a GPA of 3.33.
Lamar lost the season opener, 1-0, to Abilene Christian on Aug. 18. Despite outshooting ACU, 11-7, it was a 56th minute goal by the Wildcats that would prove to be the difference.
Lamar (0-1) will play their next two matches on the road beginning Thursday, Aug. 24, at Sam Houston State (1-1), then Grambling (2-1) on Sunday, Aug. 27.
Mark and Kym Hilinski met with all 17 Lamar University varsity sports and department administrators as well as university counselors Aug. 21 to share their son Tyler’s story a provide a message that if someone is dealing with mental health issues, you’re not alone.
On, Jan. 16, 2018. their son Tyler, a standout quarterback at Washington State, took his own life after struggling silently with mental health.
Amid overwhelming grief, the Hilinski family decided to turn their pain into hope – hope for others who might be dealing with their similar struggles as Tyler – and that is when they created the Hilinski’s Hope Foundation (H3H).
“At Lamar University student-athlete welfare is one of our core values and mental health is a major component of that,” said Director of Athletics Jeff O'Malley. “It has become a hot topic and we want our student-athletes to know that they have resources available to them should they need help. We want to educate them, so they understand there is help available.
The Hilinski’s are able to share Tyler’s story, connecting students with mental health resources, assisting universities in institutionalizing best practices, and generating the funding necessary to support programs that will help destigmatize mental illness. One of the resources they’ve created to help facilitate this is called Game Plan, which was created through a partnership with the NCAA Sports Science Institute and Prevention Strategies.
“The Hilinski family’s is a heartbreaking story that no parent should ever have to endure, but they have turned their pain into hope for others struggling with the disease,” said O’Malley. “If this program helps just one person suffering with mental health, then it was more than worth it.”
For more information regarding H3H, view hilinskishope.org.
The volleyball team gave fans their first glimpse of what the team will look like Aug 19 with the annual Red vs. Black scrimmage. The two teams split the scrimmage with both taking two sets.
Both squads had a good day attacking the ball with the Black squad posting a .273 hitting percentage (41-12-110), while the Red ended the day 46-21-108 (.231). The two teams combined for 27 total blocks.
Newcomer Lyric Jordan led the way with 29 kills, seven digs and six blocks, while senior Wiktoria Warpechowska added 13 kills on 21 swings with five blocks. Freshman Gracie Cassie had 13 kills and six blocks.
Freshman setter Jo Moffitt recorded a team-high 38 assists and three service aces in four sets for the Red team while classmate Jodie Edmonds recorded 32 and two aces for the Black squad.
The Cardinals open regular season play, Friday, Aug. 25, when they travel to Miami, Florida, to compete in the Canes Challenge.