DENVER- Kansas City's Lexie Howard and UT Rio Grande Valley's Marcela Ramirez have been named the Western Athletic Conference Women's Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, for Sept. 11-17.
Howard, a junior forward/midfielder from Kearney, Mo. (Kearney High School), had a seven point weekend which included three goals and an assist for Kansas City. She produced a perfect shooting percentage on Friday in the 4-0 victory over Missouri State as her two shots were both on goal and found the back of the net in only 43 minutes of play. Howard also had the game-winning goal and an assist in the 2-0 triumph over South Dakota. She now leads her team with six goals and leads the WAC with15 points on the season. This is the second time this season Howard has been named WAC Offensive Player of the Week.
Ramirez, a senior defender from Miami (John A. Ferguson Senior High School) held the backline for UT Rio Grande Valley as they took undefeated No. 21 Texas to overtime for just the second time this year in the 1-0 loss on the road. She also helped her team prevent opposition from getting good looks down the middle in the shutout win over Incarnate Word. This was Ramirez's second and third game playing in the defensive position as she was previously in the midfield. She was one of two who played all 180:13 this weekend.
Other offensive nominees: Chicago State's Jensyn Stanberry scored her first collegiate goal in the loss to Western Illinois from 19 yards out… CSU Bakersfield's Alexa Orrante tallied a goal in both the 2-1 loss to UNLV and 3-1 defeat against Sacramento State recording four points on the weekend… Seattle U's Jessie Ray scored in the 4-1 loss against Santa Clara and scored twice and had an assist in the 4-0 victory over Portland State… UT Rio Grande Valley's Andreya Barrera scored the game-winning goal in the 2-0 victory over Incarnate Word.
Other defensive nominee: Kansas City's Abby Small who played all but four minutes of the two matches and forced several turnovers to help her team produce a shutout against both Missouri State and South Dakota.