DENVER - Seattle U's Kyle Bjornethun and UNLV defender Jason Khamvongsa have been named Western Athletic Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, for Sept. 21-27.
Bjornethun, a junior defender from Snohomish, Wash. (Glacier Peak HS), scored both the equalizer and the game-winner in the Redhawks' 2-1 win at No. 13 Oregon State on Sunday. He also played all 90 minutes against No. 10 Washington as Seattle U held the Huskies to just a penalty kick goal in a 2-1 win at Championship Field. He was named College Soccer News National Player of the Week as the Redhawks broke into the Top 25 in two polls, sitting at 15 in the Top Drawer Soccer Top 25 and 16 in the College Soccer News Top 30.
Khamvongsa, a senior defender from Honolulu (Kaiser HS), led the Rebel backline that posted the team's third shutout of the season, 1-0 over a Gonzaga team that was coming in off a 2-1 win over ranked Oregon State. He helped the Rebels hold the Bulldogs to a season - low tying two total shots on goal, Gonzaga was forced to settle for long distance shots for majority of contests. Win was UNLV's sixth straight, longest since 1987 and ties for third longest active in nation.
Other offensive nominees: Air Force's Zach Hill scored the game-winning goal in a 1-0 win at Bradley on Sunday ... CSU Bakersfield's Christian Duarte scored the game-winning goal just over two minutes into overtime to give the Runners a 2-1 win at San Francisco … Grand Canyon's Alberto Sanchez Garcia assisted on the equalizer and then scored the game-winning goal in a 2-1 win at Pacific … Missouri-Kansas City's Pandelis Popgeorgiev scored a goal to help UMKC take a 2-0 lead over Tulsa … UT Rio Grande Valley's Rico Laitinen put in the game-winning goal in extra time to give the Vaqueros a 2-1 win over Our Lady of the Lake … Utah Valley's Karson Payton scored the game-winner against CSU Fullerton.
Other defensive nominees: Air Force's John Wendt posted his second career shutout in a 1-0 win at Bradley … CSU Bakersfield's Nick Clever earned the win a 2-1 win at San Francisco, making a save and allowing just one goal … UT Rio Grande Valley's Leo Castillo made five saves to help his team earn the 2-1 overtime win over Our Lady of the Lake … Utah Valley's Alex Neff helped limit CSU Fullerton to just two shots on goal while scoring the equalizer and assisting on the game-winner in a 2-1 win over the Titans.