UTB/TSC freshman forward Abass Ayembillah has received NAIA Men's Soccer Offensive Player of the Week award for his hat trick in the Scorpions' 5-1 win over Southern Nazarene University Saturday, September 5.

Ayembillah scored three goals for the UTB/TSC, which is off to a 3-0 start to the season. SNU came to Brownsville sporting a No. 16 ranking in the NAIA preseason poll before getting stung by the Scorpions.

"That's great for him and awesome for the program," Scorpion head coach Dan Balaguero said. "It's a great start to his career. He's so explosive, so quick and so dangerous. He comes from a great family and it is a pleasure to coach him."
 
Ayembillah came to UTB/TSC after playing 2 1/2 years at Liberty Christian Academy in Lynchburg, Va., together with Scorpion teammate Richard Nyarko. Both are from Accra, Ghana, where fellow Scorpion Evans Frimpong is also from.

Ayembillah is the all-time leading scorer in the history of Liberty Christian, which went 23-2-2 last year and advanced to the Virginia Independent Schools Final Four.

Ayembillah has scored four goals in three games for the Scorpions. He ranks in the Top 20 nationally in goals per game with 1.3 (17th nationally) and points per game with 3.0 (19th nationally).

Tanner Fox of Benedictine (Kan.) College was named Defensive Player of the Week, in the first installment of the weekly honors. The award is based upon action from Aug. 31-Sept. 6.

Ayembillah and Fox were selected out of a pool of conference/independent/unaffiliated Player of the Week winners among 23 conference groupings.