MEDFORD, MA (December 18, 2025) -- Senior
Elsi Aires was honored as the United Soccer Coaches National Scholar Player of the Year Thursday, highlighting the release of the 2025 USC Academic Awards by the coaches association.
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. Joining Aires on the Scholar All-American list were junior
Reese Birch on the First Team, senior
Lena Sugrue on the Second Team and senior
Caroline Kelly on the Third Team. Aires, Birch and Sugrue were each Scholar All-East Region First Team honorees, while Kelly was a Second Team award winner and junior
Emily Nicholas was Scholar All-East Region Third Team.
Aires becomes Tufts first-ever Scholar Player of the Year as she also was honored as the first back-to-back New England Small College Athletic Conference (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.
Tufts finished as the 2025 NESCAC champions while earning a spot in the NCAA semifinals after recording an 18-2-3 record on the year.
--JUMBOS--
