DENVER- Seattle U's Jessie Ray and Grand Canyon's Blakely Fraasch have been named the Western Athletic Conference Women's Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, for Aug. 28-Sep. 3.
Ray, a sophomore forward from Portland, Ore. (Grant High School), slipped one past Hawaii's goalkeeper to seal the 2-0 victory Monday night. She tallied five shots with two on goal in the 75 minutes of action she saw. Ray took home the Outrigger Classic Most Valuable Player honor after she had a major role in the Redhawks' winning the overall tournament.
Fraasch, a senior goalkeeper from Prior Lake, Minn. (Prior Lake High School), produced two shutouts on the weekend. Nevada had the first shot on trying to get one past Fraasch but deemed unsuccessful when she made six saves on the match. Detroit Mercy was next but also had no such luck with testing her only three times. She had a total of nine saves on the weekend while facing 15 shots. She left the weekend with a 1.00 save percentage in her 180 minutes on the pitch.
Other offensive nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Kamari Hines scored both the tying and the game-winner in the overtime victory against Denver… Grand Canyon's Milla Benedetti scored to secure the victory over Nevada as well as the game-winner against Detroit Mercy… Utah Valley's Libby Weber scored the game-winner in the 2-1 victory over Oral Roberts making that her first goal of the season.
Other defensive nominees: Seattle U's Stephanie Spiekerman led the defense to shutout Hawaii while also producing an assist in the 2-0 victory… UTRGV's Mackenzie McLeod was named to the all-tournament team after a career high 90 minutes against Lamar… Utah Valley's Tara Furlong was key in making several defensive stops in both the 2-1 loss against Tulsa and the 2-1 victory over Oral Roberts.