Tufts senior Elsi Aires was honored as the United Soccer Coaches National Scholar Player of the Year, highlighting the release of the 2025 USC Academic Awards by the coaches association. Aires was one of six players to earn Scholar All-American honors and the NESCAC totaled eight All-Region honorees.
United Soccer Coaches Scholar Awards recognize student-athletes for balancing academic excellence with on-field performance. Criteria involve a minimum of a 3.40 cumulative grade point average, while playing in 75 percent of the games and earning All-Conference, All-Region or All-American on the field. Players are nominated by their head coach.
The Jumbos had four players earn Scholar All-American accolades, which was the most of any team in the nation while the four were the most for a single season in program history. Other Jumbos joining Aires on the Scholar All-American list were teammates Reese Birch (First Team), senior Lena Sugrue (Second Team) and senior Caroline Kelly (Third Team). Amherst's Ella Johnson and Bowdoni's Kyra Hacker were also First Team Scholar-All-America selections. Tufts junior Emily Nicholas (3.75 GPA in cognitive brain sciences studies) rounded out the All-Region honorees with a spot on the Third Team
Aires becomes Tufts first-ever Scholar Player of the Year as she also was honored as the first back-to-back NESCAC Player of the Year. Holding a 3.85 GPA in biology, Aires was second on the Jumbos in points with 27 while also scoring 11 goals on the year. Aires finished her career No. 2 in program history in goals scored and points.
Birch, who holds a 3.80 GPA in economics, led the Jumbos in points with 29 while scoring 11 goals and adding seven assists. Birch was an All-NESCAC First Team honoree, as she posted a seven-game point stretch at the end of season.
Sugrue was named as the NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year in 2025 as she netted three goals and four assists on teh year while helping the Jumbos to 14 shutouts on the season. Two of Sugrue's goals were game-winning goals, including a score against Williams College in the season opener. Sugrue has a 3.76 in civil engineering.
Kelly missed the last half of the season due to injury, but was still named as an All-NESCAC First Team honoree after she posted four goals and nine assists in just 13 games. Kelly holds a 4.0 GPA in biomedical engineering.
Nicholas was named as an All-Region performer on the field as she played in all 23 games, scoring a pair of goals to go with five assists. A consistent presence in the midfield, she scored a pair of game-winning goals in 2025. Nicholas holds a 3.75 in cognitive brain studies.
Johnson is a sexuality, women's and gender studies/Asian languages and civilizations major with a 3.89 GPA. She was a USC Second Team All-America team after what was arguably her best season as a Mammoth. The lockdown defender led all Amherst field players with 1543 minutes played this season. Her defensive presence was felt across the back line, beginning the season as a consistent threat at the outside back spot before moving into the center back position later in the year. She led a Mammoth back line that allowed just 13 goals in 18 games and recorded eight shutouts.
Hacker, who carries a 4.00 GPA as a neuroscience major, was a USC Fourth Team All-American and garnered All-Region honors. Hacker earned her first All-American selection after a stellar season on the back line that still saw the senior score six goals to rank second on the team. Hacker was timely with her tallies as she had two game-winners for the Polar Bears. Bowdoin's defense allowed just 1.31 goals per game and a .533 shots on goal percentage.
United Soccer Scholar All-Americans
National Scholar Player of the Year: Elsi Aires, Sr., F, Tufts
First Team: Ella Johnson, Sr., D, Amherst
First Team: Reese Birch, Jr., M, Tufts
Second Team: Kyra Hacker, Sr., D, Bowdoin
Second Team: Lena Sugrue, Sr, D, Tufts
Third Team: Caroline Kelly, Sr., M, Tufts
United Soccer Scholar All-Region
First Team: Kyra Hacker, Sr., D, Bowdoin
First Team: Ella Johnson, Sr., D, Amherst
First Team: Lena Sugrue, Sr., D, Tufts
First Team: Reese Birch, Jr., M, Tufts
First Team: Elsi Aires, Sr., F, Tufts
Second Team: Caroline Kelly, Sr., M, Tufts
Third Team: Emily Nicholas, Jr., M, Tufts
