Player of the Week
Junior midfielder Christy Messenger led her team to a first-ever win over in-state rival Idaho State, earning her WAC Player of the Week honors. Yakima, Wash., native scored the game-winning goal with four seconds left in the first overtime period to put the Broncos on top, 1-0.
Messenger has started all eight games for Boise State, recording two goals, one assist and 21 shots for the season.
Others receiving nominations included SMU freshman midfielder Jill Heinemann, San Jose State sophomore midfielder Marie McCann, UTEP junior midfielder Holly Cohen and Tulsa senior forward Melissa McCormick.
WAC Play
Conference action begins this week, with eight WAC games scheduled. Boise State will play its first-ever league games while they host SMU and UTEP. Fresno State will be at home for two conference games as well, with Rice and Tulsa both travelling to Fresno. Nevada will host UTEP and SMU in Reno, while Tulsa and Rice make appearances at San Jose State. Hawai`i is the only team not scheduled to play a WAC game this week.
Tournament Play
San Jose State played host to Northeastern, Pacific and Gonzaga in the adidas Bay Area Classic Sept. 28-30 at Spartan Stadium. After going 1-1 in the tournament, the Spartans placed third in the tournament. They fell to Northeastern, 3-5, on Friday, Sept. 28, and topped Gonzaga, 3-1, on Sunday, Sept. 30.
WAC Player Earns National Honors
Tulsa freshman Abby Fahrig was chosen to the Soccer Buzz Elite Team of the Week last week. Fahrig picked up seven saves and one shutout while playing every minute in goal for the Golden Hurricane at the 2001 AT&T Wireless Oklahoma Shootout in Edmond, Okla., earning her tournament MVP honors. In three Golden Hurricane victories in as many games, she ended up with a 0.33 goals against average, two shutouts and 12 saves for the week, also earning her WAC Player of the Week mention.
The WAC Against Ranked Opponents
Three WAC schools faced four different nationally ranked opponents last week. SMU suffered road losses to No. 7 Santa Clara (5-2) and No. 4 Stanford (4-0). No.6 California shutout Fresno State, 2-0, while Hawai`i fell 1-4 to No. 21 St. Marys. The last nationally ranked opponent to face a WAC school is California, who matches up against Hawai`i on Monday, Oct. 1.
The WAC in the Polls
SMU is still the only WAC team to have made an appearance in the polls. The Mustangs fell out of the SoccerBuzz national top 25 this week after suffering two road losses, falling 2-5 to No. 7 Santa Clara and 0-4 to No. 4 Stanford. SMU also dropped one spot in the regional rankings to No.5.