DENVER — Utah Valley’s Karson Payton and UNLV’s Jason Khamvongsa have been named the Western Athletic Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week for November 3-9.
Payton, freshman forward from Provo, Utah (Timpview HS), scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal in a 3-1 victory at Bakersfield on Friday night to clinch a berth in the WAC Torunament. He then assisted on the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win at San Jose State on Sunday to give the Wolverines the number three seed in this week’s tournament.
Khamvongsa, a junior defender from Honolulu, Hawaii (Kaiser HS), helped UNLV pitch a shutout for the first 89:20 of a 2-1 victory at Grand Canyon on Sunday. The Rebel defense limited the ‘Lopes to just three shots on goal as UNLV won the outright WAC regular season title and claimed the top seed in this week’s WAC Tournament. Khamvongsa also assisted on UNLV’s first goal of the game and notched his third goal of the season in the 61st minute.
Other offensive nominees included: junior forward Alberto Sanchez Garcia, Grand Canyon; freshman midfielder Marc-Anthone, Houston Baptist; senior midfielder/forward Tato Chiaparro, Missouri-Kansas City; and junior forward Hamza Haddadi, Seattle U.
Defensive nominees included: junior goalkeeper Luca Licciardi, Grand Canyon; junior goalkeeper Philip Poser, Houston Baptist; junior defender Guerrero Pino, Missouri-Kansas City; junior goalkeeper Shane Haworth, Seattle U; and sophomore midfielder Skyler Milne, Utah Valley.
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