United Athletic Conference

 

 

 

DENVER – Kansas City's Kelsey Mothershead and UT Rio Grande Valley's Kinga Szemik have been named the Western Athletic Conference Women's Soccer Offensive and Defensive Players of the week, respectively, for Sept. 3-9.

 

Mothershead, a senior forward from Smithville, Mo. (Smithville), recorded her second career hat trick in a 3-2 win over Kansas State. She is currently leading the NCAA in goals per game with a 1.29 average. Mothershead has tallied nine goals in seven games including three game-winning goals. This is her second time receiving player of the week honors this season.

 

Szemik, a junior goalkeeper from Pietrzykowice, Bielsko, Poland, earned player of the week honors for the second straight week. Szemik made three saves in a 2-1 win over McNeese State. In 96 minutes of play, she faced 14 shots, four being on goal. Szemik has 28 saves on the year with a saves-per-game average of four.

 

Other offensive nominees: California Baptist's Deserae Felix scored a goal in each match over the weekend and finished with six shots on goal in two matches…NM State's Aileen Galicia scored her fourth goal of the season in the 89th minute to send their match against Boise State into overtime… Emily Zapata of UT Rio Grande Valley recorded a career-high four points after placing her fourth and fifth goals of the season in the back of the net against McNeese State… Sadie Brockbank of Utah Valley scored a goal against Portland and totaled seven shots in three games.

 

Other defensive nominees: NM State's Emma Smith earned her second assist and fourth point of the season against Boise State... Megan Sullivan of Utah Valley helped the Wolverine defense and finished with one shot on goal.

 

Kansas City picked up two big wins throughout the week and was the only WAC team to go 2-0. The Roos defeated Kansas State, 3-2, on the road led by Kelsey Mothershead's hat trick. They also defeated Creighton at home 4-2. UT Rio Grande Valley won their solo match of the week after having to postpone their match against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi due to weather. UTRGV's offense was led by Emily Zapata who scored both goals in a 2-1 overtime victory against McNeese State. Zapata recorded her first career multi-goal game and now sits at five goals on the season. 

 

WAC teams played in four overtime matches this week. Overall, the conference went 1-1-2 in matches with extra time. UT Rio Grande Valley defeated McNeese State 2-1 in the first overtime. NM State fell short in a double overtime battle against Boise State losing 3-2. California Baptist and Seattle U each ended in draws. CBU tied 1-1 against Mississippi Valley State and Seattle U followed suit also tying 1-1 against Cal Poly. 

 

Kansas City claims the top spot in seven team leader categories. The Roos own the most shots with 131, averaging 16.38 per game. California Baptist claims the shots-per-game average with 19. Kansas City also sits atop the most goals with 18 followed by UT Rio Grande Valley with 13. The Roos' average 2.25 goals per game and have tallied 51 total points in eight games played. They also claim both assist categories with 15 total and a 1.88 per-game average. California Baptist holds the best goals allowed average with just .67. Chicago State owns most saves at 51 and CBU has posted the most shutouts with three. 

 

Individually, Lexie Howard of Kansas City still holds the spot for most shots with 34 and averaging 4.25 per game. Howard is at the top for assists with fsix total and a .75 game average. Kansas City's Kelsey Mothershead has the most points with 21 and is averaging 2.62 per game. Mothershead also has the most goals at nine and a 1.12 per-game average. She leads in game-winning goals with three. Ariana Romero of Seattle U has tallied the best saves percentage with a .857. She has allowed just two goals and made 12 saves. Grand Canyon's Abby Burton still sits atop the most saves with 42 but Audra Wisehart of Chicago State averages the most saves per game with 8.20. 

 

WAC teams will play in three more matches against teams that played in the NCAA Tournament last year. Two matches hosted by WAC schools will be available to stream on the WAC Digital Network at www.wacsports.com/watch.

 

Sept. 13 Utah Valley at Colorado – 3:30 p.m. MT

Sep. 14 UT Rio Grande Valley at Texas – 6 p.m. CT

Sep. 16 Kansas City vs Oklahoma State, 1 p.m. CT (WDN)

 

 

The 37th Annual Women's College Cup will be held at Wakamed Soccer Park, Cary, N.C., Nov. 30 and Dec. 2.  Last year's WAC champs, Utah Valley, fell short in their 2017 first round match up against Stanford. The Wolverines were defeated 9-1 by the 2017 National Champions.

 

 

COLLEGE CUP DATES

First Round (64)

Nov. 9-11, 2018

On campus sites TBD

 

Second Round (32)

Nov. 16, 2018

On campus sites TBD

 

Third Round (16)

Nov. 18, 2017

On campus sites TBD

 

Quarterfinals (8)

Nov. 23-24, 2017

On campus sites TBD

 

Women's College Cup

Nov. 30 and Dec. 2, 2018

Wakemed Soccer Park

Cary, N.C.

 

The WAC Digital Network will broadcast over 60 games this season including all five games of the 2018 WAC Women's Soccer Tournament in Orem, Utah.