Heather Martin

Classroom

Heather Martin began her senior year with a perfect 4.00 GPA. She is majoring in psychology and is on track to graduate in the spring of 2020. Martin has received the Texas State Achievement Scholarship all four years and has been named to the Texas State Dean’s List for six semesters. For the 2018-19 academic year, Martin received the school’s Liberal Arts Award for Academic Excellence.

In August, Martin was announced as the 2019 Texas State University System Regents’ Student Scholar award winner. The Student Scholar is selected by the chancellor based on their outstanding academic achievement and scholarship, leadership abilities and contributions to the institution and their community.

Martin earned 2018 CoSIDA Academic All-America Second Team honors, becoming just the third player in program history to be named to one of the teams, and was CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team selection. Last year Martin also was named to the United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-West Second Team. Martin is a three-time Sun Belt Conference Commissioner’s List honoree and a three-time recipient of the Texas State Star of Excellence, which is given to student-athletes at Texas State who have a 4.0 semester GPA in the spring or fall semesters of a calendar year.

Martin plans on pursuing a post-graduate doctorate degree in occupational therapy. She wants to practice as a licensed occupational therapist and work with special-needs children.

Character

Martin serves as a one of the two team captains for the Texas State soccer team for the 2019 season. Martin and the rest of the soccer senior class made it their goal to be role models for all of the following classes in the soccer program by continuously aiming to help lead them both on and off the field. Through that leadership, Martin believes the team views each and every one as someone they can come to for anything.

One of the team’s mottos is “make a teammate look good,” meaning that in every aspect, the team’s first concern should be putting the team first. Martin loves the concept behind this saying, and it is something she strives to practice every day, whether it be encouraging them when they need it or helping them with a class. Martin wants to be sure that her teammates can rely on her like she knows she can always rely on them.

Community

Martin has volunteered her time as an American Heart Walk participant, visited the Boy & Girls club of South Central Texas and volunteered at the South Place Nursing Center in San Marcos, Texas. Martin is also a volunteer coach for the San Marcos Area Youth Soccer Organization and was a coach of a Relay for Life team.

Martin is also a Goals2Cure advocate. Goals2Cure is a charitable initiative created by Texas State soccer Head Coach Kat Conner, whose mission is to promote ovarian cancer awareness and to raise funds in support of women fighting ovarian cancer.

Competition

Through four games in 2019, Martin has helped Texas State to a program best 4-0 start while posting a 0.32 GAA with 10 saves. Martin was named the Sun Belt Conference’s Defensive Player of the Week after the second weekend of the season and was the Sun Belt’s Preseason Defensive Player of the Year.

In 2018, Martin was named to the United Soccer Coaches All-Southeast Region Third Team, the All-Sun Belt First Team and the Sun Belt All-Tournament Team while also earning Sun Belt Conferences Defensive Player of the Year honors. Last year she set program records in GAA (0.45), save percentage (.919) and solo shutouts (9). Her save percentage was the second best in the nation and ranks third in conference history, while her GAA mark ranked seventh in the country. The 2018 season saw Martin help propel the Bobcats to their first-ever Sun Belt Regular Season Championship.

Martin is the only player in Sun Belt history to be named the conference’s Defensive Player of the Week three times in multiple seasons, doing so in 2018 and 2017. Martin was named to the All-Sun Belt First Team in 2017 when she and the team posted five consecutive shutouts to tie the program record.

For her career, Martin ranks first in GAA (0.80) and save percentage (.851), second in wins (29), tied for second in shutouts (16) and is third in both saves (222) and goalie minutes played (4,374) in Texas State history.

(All stats as of nomination time.)