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UTAH VALLEY'S DEWAAL AND NM STATE'S FONG NAMED PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Utah Valley's Breanna DeWaal and NM State's Dmitri Fong have been named the Western Athletic Conference Women's Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, for Aug. 14-20.
DeWaal, a sophomore midfielder from Sandy, Utah (Alta High School), scored her first goal of the season in the overtime loss against tournament host Hawai‘i. She had five shots on goal for the match and played all 99 minutes of the match. DeWaal scored the game winner against Houston Baptist in the 72nd minute and tallied three shots on goal in 84 minutes she played. She was named to the all-tournament team in the OHANA Hotels by Outrigger Shootout.
Fong, a redshirt freshman goalkeeper from Albuquerque, N.M. (Cottonwood Classical Preparatory), made seven saves against UTEP and allowed one goal. She was able to make the important saves to keep the Aggies in the game to make a 2-1 comeback victory in double overtime. The victory over the Miners was the first in school history for the Aggies. Fong held Northern Illinois scoreless while making eight saves in the double overtime 0-0 tie.
Other offensive nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Alexa Orrante scored a goal against Sam Houston State in the 4-3 loss and had another against Prairie View A&M along with two assists in the 5-0 victory… Grand Canyon's McKenzie Cook recorded a shot on goal against New Mexico… NM State's Audriana Chavez scored a goal against UTEP in the 2-1 victory… UT Rio Grande Valley's Diandra Aliaga scored a pair of goals in the 2-1 victory over Sam Houston State.
Other defensive nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Jordan Bertram recorded four saves each in both the 4-3 loss against Sam Houston State and the 5-0 victory against Prairie View A&M for her first career shutout… Chicago State's Gabby Klemp made six saves against Idaho State and 12 saves against Northern Iowa… Grand Canyon's Blakely Fraasch made two saves against Texas Tech for the 1-0 loss and five in the New Mexico 1-0 loss... UTRGV's Tuva Rolstad Nilsen helped hold the opponents to a total of five shots on goal and was named to the UTRGV Tournament Team… Utah Valley's Hannah Bruce helped hold Houston Baptist to one shot on goal in the 2-1 victory and limited Hawai‘i to five shots on goal in the 2-1 overtime loss.
DEFEATED NO MORE
NM State beat UTEP for the first time in program history on Friday, August 18th, 2-1. The history between the Aggies and the Miners dates back to August 21, 2009 when the Miners took the game 1-0. Seeing them again five more times before this year it was not until this matchup the Aggies had a multiple goal performance against the I-10 rivals to tally their first victory.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
With just one weekend into the 2017 season, CSU Bakersfield found themselves as the top leaders in shots (46), points (20), goals (8), and tied with NM State in shutouts (1). NMSU is also on the top for goals against average (0.42) and Chicago State is the leader in saves (18).
Individually, CSUB's Sophie Freeman and Utah Valley's Breanna DeWaal lead the league in shots (12). CSUB's Alexa Orrante leads in points (6), goals (2), and is tied with her teammate Clair Nelson in assists (2). NMSU's Dmitri Fong is the leader in goals against average (0.42), save percentage (.938) and is tied with CSUB's Jordan Bertam in shutouts (1). CSU's Gabby Klep leads in saves (18).
DELGADO, SPIKERMAN SHINE IN PRESEASON ALL-WAC ROSTER
CSU Bakersfield's midfielder Sabrina Delgado was voted Preseason Offensive Player of the Year while Seattle U's defender Stephanie Spiekerman took the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year honor. Both awards were voted by the league's head coaches who could not vote for their own student-athlete.
SU had players on both offensive and defensive sides of the ball with forward Natasha Howe and defenders Hannah Carrothers and Spierkerman elected to the team. Grand Canyon also had three players who were stretched throughout the field as forward Milla Benedetti, defender Madison Cox and goalkeeper Blakely Fraasch were elected as part of the lineup. Kansas City was represented by two of their midfielders in Reighan Childers and Lexie Howard. Utah Valley's midfielder Breanna DeWaal, CSUB's Delgado and UT Rio Grande Valley's forward Sarah Bonney rounded out the rest of the 11-player roster.
COMPETITION FROM 2016 NCAA TOURNAMENT
This past weekend three WAC teams faced opponents who extended their season last year in the NCAA Tournament. On Friday Grand Canyon was defeated by Texas Tech 1-0 and on Sunday Kansas City played against Oklahoma State and lost 4-1 while Utah Valley defeated Houston Baptist 2-1.
WAC teams will play in nine more matches against teams that played in the NCAA Tournament last year. Three matches hosted by WAC schools will be available to stream on the WAC Digital Network at www.wacsports.com/watch.
Aug. 25 Utah Valley at UNLV, 7 p.m. PT
Aug. 27 South Dakota State at Kansas City, 1 p.m. CT (WDN)
Sept. 8 UT Rio Grande Valley at Houston Baptist, 7 p.m. CT
Sept. 11 Santa Clara at Seattle U, 3 p.m. PT (WDN)
Sept. 15 UNLV at CSU Bakersfield, 7 p.m. PT (WDN)
Sept. 22 Utah Valley at BYU, 7 p.m. MT
Sept. 29 NM State at SMU, 5 p.m. CT
Sept. 29 Kansas City at Illinois State, 7 p.m. CT
Oct. 2 Utah Valley at Texas A&M, 7 p.m. CT
COMING TO YOU LIVE
The WAC Diginal Network will broadcast over 60 games this season including all five games of the 2017 WAC Women's Soccer Tournament in Phoenix, Arizona.