DENVER- Seattle U's Leahi Manthei and UT Rio Grande Valley's Malia Irvine have been named the Western Athletic Conference Women's Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, for Sept. 4-10.
Manthei, a freshman forward from Gig Harbor, Wash. (Gig Harbor High School), found four out her five shots in the back of the net in the 5-3 victory over Idaho while just playing 59 minutes of the match. She scored one in the first half and a hat trick in the second to help pull her team out of a two-goal deficit for the first time in Division 1 program history. Manthei is the first rookie to score four goals and just the fifth to record a hat trick for her program.
Irvine, a junior defender from Vancouver, Canada (Mark Isfeld Scondary), helped the back line produce two overtime ties and shutting Texas A&M- Corpus Christi over the weekend. She saw all 110 minutes against Houston Baptist and all but six minutes against Texas A&M- Corpus Christi. Irvine helped her team to a 0.42 goals against average while going undefeated.
Other offensive nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Kamari Hines assisted the first goal in the 2-1 victory over Saint Mary's and the game-winner against Grambling State… UT Rio Grande Valley's Anna Hover scored the lone goal of the weekend in the double overtime tie against Houston Baptist while tallying two shots on goal… Utah Valley's Breanna McCarter scored both goals in the 2-1 victory over Wyoming while recording three shots on goal.
Other defensive nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Jordan Bertram made six saves on the weekend while letting in two goals… Grand Canyon's Blakely Fraasch made a season high eight saves in the double overtime draw against UC Santa Barbara and tallied another four on the weekend against Houston Baptist… Utah Valley's Amanda Mangelson made numerous key stops in the 2-1 victory over Wyoming.