DENVER - Utah State's Kendra Pemberton and Molli Merrill have been named Verizon Western Athletic Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, for the week of October 3-9.
Pemberton, a sophomore midfielder from North Salt Lake, Utah (Woods Cross HS), nearly doubled her point total of the season in two matches as Utah State defeated both New Mexico State and Louisiana Tech last week. Pemberton ended the week with three goals and an assist, scoring seven points, including two game-winning goals. In the win against NMSU, the midfielder scored the first goal of the match. Against Louisiana Tech, she scored five points off of two goals and one assist, having a hand in all three goals. She has seven assists on the season to lead the team. With 12 career assists, Pemberton is tied for second in career assists with Aggie-great Charity Weston (2003-06). She is just three assists away from tying Lindsey Smart's (2006-09) career record of 15 helpers. For the week, she averaged 1.50 goals, 3.50 points and 65.5 minutes per match.
Merrill, a senior goalkeeper from Bountiful, Utah (Bountiful HS), was stellar as Utah State captured two WAC wins against Louisiana Tech and New Mexico State. She registered her fifth shutout of the season against New Mexico State as the Aggies defeated NMSU 2-0. She played 69 minutes in the Aggies' 3-1 win against Louisiana Tech, allowing no goals. She lowered her WAC GAA to 0.68.
Other offensive nominees included: Fresno State forward Callie Hancock scored the game-winning goal vs. San Jose State ... Nevada midfielder Chrisalyn Fonte scored 2 goals vs. Louisiana Tech, including the game-winner in overtime ... Idaho midfielder Jill Flockhart had two assists vs. Hawai'I ... New Mexico State forward Yolanda McMillion scored the game-winning goal in overtime and added an assist vs. Nevada ... San Jose State forward Kelsey Lord scored the game-winning goal vs. Dominican (Calif.) and added two assists in the match ... Utah State midfielder Lexie Morgan scored against Hawai'i.
Other defensive nominees included: Fresno State goaltender Katie DeVault shutout San Jose State ... Idaho defender Lauren Layton helped Idaho to a 4-2 win over Hawai'I and added an assist ... Nevada goalkeeper Dana Moreno earned second victory of the season vs. Louisiana Tech ... New Mexico State goalkeeper Erin Wosick made seven saves and allowed just three goals in two matches ... San Jose State goalkeeper Meghan Maiwald shutout Dominican and allowed just one goal in two games on the week.