Kansas City, Mo. – The stellar duo of Sydney Shenk and Avery Tack from the Aquinas women's soccer team received United Soccer Coaches All-America honors, announced by the organization on Wednesday (Dec. 6). Shenk and Tack were both named to the 11-member First Team and solidify their spots as United Soccer Coaches First Team All-Americans.

Voted on by members of the United Soccer Coaches Association, there were two 11-member teams on the women's side in a traditional format (four forwards, three midfielders, three defenders, one goalkeeper). Shenk was one of four forwards selected and Tack as one of three defenders on the First Team.

Aquinas was one of just two teams to have multiple First Team All-Americans, interestingly joining National Tournament quarterfinal opponent William Carey (with three) as the only other team to have more than one player on the top squad.

Recently, Shenk and Tack were selected to the 11-member United Soccer Coaches All-North Region team, joining players from Siena Heights, UNOH, Saint Ambrose, Marian, Spring Arbor, and IU-Kokomo. The pair advanced to the All-America balloting, landing on the association's First Team.

Shenk and Tack join former teammates Hannah Crum, Merin McDermott, and Breanna Probst as the only Saints in program history to earn All-America honors from the United Soccer Coaches Association.

Both players were All-WHAC First Team honorees, as Shenk was the league's Offensive Player of the Year and Tack took home Defensive Player of the Year accolades. They were two catalysts of AQ's tremendous 17-1-4 season and the team's second straight appearance in the National Tournament quarterfinals.

Shenk finished the season with team-highs in goals (11) and points (31), adding nine assists to her scoring total. She led the WHAC in total points, tied for the league-best in goals, and was second to only teammate Laia Cunill in assists. Shenk netted a goal in nine different games – including a Sept. 23 hat trick against Concordia – and recorded an assist in all three games of the NAIA National Tournament. She also scored AQ's first goal in the win over John Brown in the Round of 16. Shenk is second all-time in Aquinas history in goals (45) and total points (117); she's just the third Saint to reach 100-plus career points, joining Crum and Amy Panse, an AQ Athletic Hall of Fame inductee.

Tack helped anchor the Aquinas backline, which finished the year as the top defense in the country. AQ allowed just eight goals all season, tied with Columbia (Mo.) for the fewest goals of any team. The Saints, though, played two more games than Columbia, so they registered an NAIA-low 0.36 goals against average and an NAIA-best 17 shutouts. Tack was a large part of that stingy defense, which did not allow a goal from Sept. 9 to Nov. 4 for a total of 1,478 consecutive scoreless minutes (15 games). Aquinas did not give up a goal during the entire conference season and did not allow more than one goal in any game all year until the 3-2 loss to #1 William Carey in the national quarterfinals. Tack started all 22 contests for AQ and logged a team-best 1,903 minutes. She also was able to tally three goals and two assists this season.