DENVER - NM State's Aileen Galicia and UT Rio Grande Valley's Evelyn Powell have been named Western Athletic Conference Women's Soccer Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, for the week of Sept. 5-11.
Galicia, a sophomore from Indio, Calif. (La Quinta HS), scored the first hat trick of the WAC women's soccer season in a 3-0 victory over Idaho State. If only took Galicia 51 minutes of action to bag her three goals.Her five goals this season has tied her total for 2015 (freshman) with 11 matches remaining in the regular-season. Her six points in the match is the most since 2014 when Jennae Cambra rattled off two goals and two assists at Chicago State. Her hat trick was also just the second one ever in program history. Yolanda McMillion was the only other player to record a hat trick, knocking in three of her own back on Aug. 29, 2010, against Prairie View A&M in an 8-0 win.
Powell, a senior from Abingdon, MD (Harford Community College), anchored a defense that allowed no goals on the weekend and earned two victories. Powell missed the first two matches of season due to illness, but since her return UTRGV hasn't allowed a goal. She played the first half only on Friday, during which time St. Thomas had zero quality scoring chances. St. Thomas had multiple opportunities in second half with Powell off the field. She played all 90 minutes Sunday, keeping TAMUCC from getting good looks at the goal and anchoring a defense that hasn't allowed a goal in 470 minutes, which is a school record.
Other offensive nominees included: Grand Canyon junior defender McKenzie Cook finished the week with four shots, four shots on goal and one goal … Seattle U senior forward Brie Hooks scored her fourth goal of the season against Idaho … UTRGV junior forward Andreya Barrera scored two goals in two matches, including her third game-winning goal of the season … Utah Valley freshman midfielder Breanna DeWaal led the Wolverines with five shots in a pair of road matches at Wyoming and Colorado College last week.
Other defensive nominees included: GCU junior goalkeeper Blakely Fraasch picked up her third shutout of the season against UIC … NM State sophomore goalkeeper Ashley Martin didn't allow a goal in 172:21 minutes of action this weekend after checking into the Weber State game in the 8th minute and earning a shutout victory over Idaho State … Utah Valley senior defender Kalli Suesue anchored the UVU defense that gave up just two goals over two matches on the week.