United Athletic Conference

 

 

UT Rio Grande Valley's Emily Zapata and Kinga Szemik swept the Western Athletic Conference Women's Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week for Aug. 27-Sept. 2.

 

Zapata, a freshman forward from Laredo, Texas (United South) helped lead UTRGV to a 2-1 win over Miami and a 2-2 tie with Texas A&M Corpus Christi. She recorded a career-high three points in the Miami win. Zapata assisted the game-tying goal and scored the game-winning goal. The goal was the first of her career. She finished the weekend with ten total shots, two on goal.

 

Szemik, a junior goalkeeper from Pietrzykowice, Bielsko, Poland, recorded a career-high ten saves against Texas A&M Corpus Christi. She allowed just one goal in their win over Miami and helped UTRGV to a 2-2 tie against Corpus Christi. Szemik ended the weekend with 13 total saves in 203 minutes of play.

 

Other offensive nominees: California Baptist's Miranda Hald scored the game-winning goal for the second time this season in overtime against Houston… Remmi Deutsch of Grand Canyon scored her first goal against UTSA… NM State's Alexa Barrera recorded her first and second career assists in a win over NIU and had one more assist against Abilene Christian… Laura Hooper of Seattle U put up a goal and an assist in a 3-0 win over Portland State…Utah Valley's Breanna McCarter finished the weekend with a goal and an assists in a win over Cal Poly.

 

Other defensive nominees: Grand Canyon's Abby Burton had nine saves this weekend… Ariana Romero of Seattle U recorded a shutout in her first career start… Utah Valley's Linley Brown led their defense to a 1-1 record for the weekend and made numerous defensive stops.

 

UT Rio Grande Valley earned the first win over a power five school in program history after defeating Miami 2-1 in overtime. They were led by WAC Offensive Player of the Week, Emily Zapata, who recorded a career-high three points with an assist and game-winning goal. 

 

Seattle U wrapped up their weekend with a 3-0 win over Portland State. California Baptist snagged a 2-1 overtime win against Houston. CSU Bakersfield and NM State both earned their first wins of the season over the weekend. CSUB defeated Southern Utah 1-0 while NM State won 3-0 over Northern Illinois. 

 

WAC teams played in four overtime matches this weekend. Overall, the conference went 2-1-1 in matches with extra time. California Baptist defeated Houston 2-1 and UTRGV beat Miami 2-1. UTRGV also tied with Texas A&M Corpus Christi while Grand Canyon fell short, 2-1, to UTSA. 

Kansas City finds themselves in the top spot of a majority of categories for the second week in a row. They top most shots per game averaging 16 and points with a 5-per-game average. Kansas City also leads with overall assists and assists per game with eight total and a 1.33 game average. The Roos tally the most corner kicks at 28. UT Rio Grande Valley claims the most goals with 11 but Seattle U tops the goals per game category averaging two. Chicago State has recorded the most saves at 39 and California Baptist has posted the most shutouts with two. 

 

Individually, Lexie Howard of Kansas City has the most shots with 24 but Seattle U's Leahi Manthei holds the highest shots per game average at 4.33. Kansas City's Kelsey Mothershead leads in points with 13 and Jessie Ray of Seattle U has the highest point average with 2.50. Mothershead and Ray also top the overall goals category with six and four, respectively. Both average a goal a game. Kansas City's Rylan Childers leads in overall assists with four and average with .67. Miranda Hald of California Baptist, Sarah Bonney of UTRGV, and Mothershead of UMKC claim best in game-winning goals each with two. Grand Canyon's Abby Burton owns the highest number of saves with 37 and Chicago State's Audra Wisehart has the highest game average at 8.75. 

NCAA OPPONENTS

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.