BATON ROUGE -- Senior midfielder Malorie Rutledge has been a offensive force in the Southeastern Conference throughout her brilliant career at LSU, and she was honored by the league’s head coaches on Tuesday as the SEC Offensive Player of the Year for the second-straight season.

Rutledge leads a group of five Tigers to earn All-SEC recognition as she is joined by First-Team All-SEC defender Chelsea Potts, Second-Team All-SEC midfielders Melissa Clarke and Allysha Chapman and the team’s lone SEC All-Freshman Team selection in Carlie Banks.

With four selections to the All-SEC first and second teams, LSU leads all programs in the SEC as Florida and South Carolina follow with three all-conference team members this season.

The Tigers are the three-time defending SEC Western Division champions with a 12-4-3 overall mark and a school record 8-2-1 record and 25 points in SEC play this fall.

“This is a great conference with a tremendous amount of talent being coached by some of the top coaches in the country, and it is truly an honor when one of our student-athletes is recognized for their play on the field,” said LSU head coach Brian Lee. “We are certainly honored to receive this kind of recognition with five players on the All-SEC team this season. I feel that each is very well deserved.”

Rutledge has proven to be an All-American in every sense of the word as she finished the regular season as the SEC’s leading point scorer with nine goals and 11 assists for 29 points on the year. In addition, she finished as the SEC’s top point scorer in conference play, scoring five goals and nine assists for 19 points in 11 league games in 2009. For her effort, Rutledge has been chosen as a unanimous First-Team All-SEC selection.

The senior from Sharpsburg, Ga., is the most decorated player in the history of the program as she earned her third-straight First-Team All-SEC selection and is the only Tiger to receive three first-team honors.

This also marks the third time that Clarke has earned All-SEC honors during her brilliant career as she has received a second-team selection for the third time.

Clarke, a senior from Norcross, Ga., ranks among the top five point scorers in the SEC this fall with eight goals and four assists for 20 points, including three goals and two assists for eight points in 11 conference matches. She also earned Second-Team All-SEC honors as a freshman in 2005 and as a junior in 2008.

While Rutledge and Clarke have given LSU a devastating 1-2 punch in the offensive attack this fall, Potts and Chapman have anchored a Tiger defense that ranks among the top units in the SEC this fall. The LSU defense ranks No. 3 in the SEC with a 0.71 goals against average in all competition, as well as SEC action in 2009. That includes limiting opponents to a league low eight goals in 11 conference games.

Like Rutledge and Clarke, this is the third time that Potts has been named to the All-SEC team in her time at LSU and the first time that she has earned a first-team selection from the league’s 12 head coaches. The senior from Aurora, Ill., earned Second-Team All-SEC honors in 2006 and 2007.

Chapman, a sophomore from Courtice, Ontario, Canada, has already proven herself as one of the league’s elite defensive midfielders in her first season with the Tigers after transferring to LSU prior to the season.

Banks is another newcomer who has been a welcomed addition to the squad this fall as she is the team’s leading goal scorer in SEC play with six goals in 11 conference matches. That number ranks No. 3 among all goal scorers in SEC play this season, while her 13 points in the league ranks No. 5 among all scorers.

Banks, a freshman from Peachtree City, Ga., burst onto the scene with her first career hat trick and LSU’s only hat trick this season in a dominating 6-0 win over then No. 8-ranked Georgia in the SEC opener back on Sept. 25. Banks then followed with a two-goal performance in a 4-1 win over Mississippi State on Oct. 18. With her performance, Banks is the second-leading freshman goal scorer in the SEC this season.

With its third-straight SEC Western Division championship already in the bag, LSU hopes to add an SEC Tournament title to its resume when the club heads to Orange Beach, Ala., this week.

The 16th-ranked and No. 2-seeded Tigers will take on No. 7 seed Vanderbilt in the first round Wednesday as the match is scheduled to kick off at noon CT. This marks the second straight season that LSU is slated to compete as the No. 2 seed at the SEC Tournament.

2009 SEC Soccer Awards

Coach of the Year
Shelley Smith, South Carolina

Offensive Player of the Year
Malorie Rutledge, LSU

Defensive Player of the Year
Lauren Hyde, Florida

Freshman of the Year
Laura Eddy, Georgia

Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Blakely Mattern, South Carolina

First-Team All-SEC
Attacker, Katie Frierson, So., Auburn
Attacker, Kayla Grimsley, So., South Carolina*
Attacker, Mick Imgram, Sr., Tennessee
Attacker, Carrie Patterson, Sr., Georgia
Attacker, Malorie Rutledge, Sr., LSU*
Defender, Megan Forester, Sr., Vanderbilt
Defender, Lauren Hyde, Sr., Florida*
Defender, Danielle Johnson, Sr., Ole Miss
Defender, Blakely Mattern, Sr., South Carolina*
Defender, Chelsea Potts, Sr., LSU
Goalkeeper, Katie Fraine, Jr., Florida

Second-Team All-SEC
Attacker, Melissa Clarke, Sr., LSU
Attacker, Becca Howell, Sr., Auburn
Attacker, Molly Kinsella, Jr., Vanderbilt
Attacker, Kim Miller, Sr., South Carolina
Attacker, Lindsay Thompson, So., Florida
Attacker, Hannah Weatherly, Sr., Ole Miss
Defender, Allysha Chapman, So., LSU
Defender, Samantha Diaz-Matosas, Sr., South Carolina
Defender, Laura Eddy, Fr., Georgia
Defender, Kim Schlief, Sr., Arkansas
Defender, Sammy Towne, Jr., Auburn
Goalkeeper, Justine Bernier, So., Alabama

SEC All-Freshman Team
Carlie Banks, LSU
Allie Chandler, Arkansas
Arielle Cohen, Ole Miss
Susannah Dennis, Georgia
Laura Eddy, Georgia*
Amy Harrison, Tennessee
Amy Howard, Auburn
Chelsea Stewart, Vanderbilt
Brooke Thigpen, Florida
Erika Tymrak, Florida*
Kat Williamson, Florida

* - Denotes unanimous selection