United Athletic Conference

Seattle U's Jessie Ray and UT Rio Grande Valley's Kinga Szemik were selected as the Western Athletic Conference Women's Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week for Sept. 2-8, respectively.

 

Ray, a senior forward from Portland, Ore., helped propel the Redhawks to a 3-0 victory over Idaho on Friday, Sept. 6. She netted both goals in the first 33 minutes of play in Moscow, Idaho. Ray took a total of nine shots this weekend and put three of them on goal. This marks the second time this season that Ray has scored at least three points in a single match. She now has three goals on the season and a total of seven points in four games.

 

Szemik, a senior goalkeeper from Pietrzykowice, Bielsko, Poland, captured her third shutout of the season in the Vaqueros 1-0 victory over Southern Utah. She now has 13 saves on the year in 425 minutes of play. Szemik ranks first in program history in wins, saves and games played.

 

Other offensive nominees: Karley Weeks of California Baptist led the Lancers to a tie with Sacramento State after netting her first goal of the season... Grand Canyon's Jaycee Iranshad scored her first goal of the season against Northern Colorado... NM State's Shea O'Connor recorded her second goal of the season in the Aggies 1-1 draw with Texas State... Sarah Bonney of UT Rio Grande Valley knocked in her seventh career game-winning goal in the Vaqueros 1-0 victory over Southern Utah.

 

Other defensive nominees: Kansas City's Abby Small anchored a Roos defense that held Missouri State and Drake to a combined one total goal... Lece Aviles of NM State played 110 minutes for an Aggie defense that held Texas State to just one goal.

 

Currently, California Baptist leads the league in shots taken (100) and goals (10). The Lancers also lead the conference in points (26). UT Rio Grande Valley currently leads all WAC members in assists (7). After three weeks of play, Chicago State leads the league in saves (36). Kansas City has allowed the fewest goals (3) and maintains the best goals against average (.470).

 

Individually, California Baptist's Karley Weeks leads the league in shots (21). Rylan Childers of Kansas City leads the league in points (10) and shares the lead for most goals scored (4) with Sarah Bonney of UT Rio Grande Valley. With two assists each, five different players share the lead for most assists in the conference. Chicago State's Judith Sorribes leads the conference for the most saves (34). After picking up her third clean sheet, UT Rio Grande Valley's Kinga Szemik leads the conference in shutouts. 

 

After finding themselves down early, CSU Bakersfield fought back to defeat Fresno State on the road for the first time in program history. The Roadrunners now sit at 2-0 on the road and are one of three schools in the conference yet to lose away from home. Kansas City earned two road ties this weekend as they saw back-to-back matches go into double overtime. UT Rio Grande Valley was victorious in their lone road match this season.

 

Five games went into extra time this weekend with four games ending in draws. In the first three weeks, conference schools have seen 11 matches extend into at least one overtime. Overall, an extra 164:32 minutes has been played amongst conference teams this season.

 

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