TicketSmarter WAC Women's Soccer Players of the Week Announced
DENVER – UT Rio Grande Valley's Gina Steiner and UT Rio Grande Valley's Maile Lunardi were selected as the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week for Feb. 8 through Feb. 14, respectively.
Steiner, a senior midfielder from Nuremberg, Germany, scored her second goal of the season on a penalty kick in the 19th minute to help UTRGV earn a 1-0 win at UTSA and improve to 3-0-1 on the young season. Both of her goals this season have been game-winners and she is tied with two others for the early lead in goals scored.
Lunardi, a junior goalkeeper from Highland Park, Ill., posted her second and third shutouts of the season in a scoreless draw at home against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and a 1-0 win at UTSA. Against TAMCC, she made a pair of saves over 110 minutes to secure the clean sheet. She followed that up with four saves in San Antonio to help UTRGV extend its shutout streak to over 330 minutes. On the season, she has allowed just one goal in 385:14 for a WAC-best 0.23 goals-against average and her .941 save percentage is also a league-high.
Other offensive nominees: California Baptist's Deniah Wells scored her second goal of the season in the Lancers' 1-1 draw at Loyola Marymount … Chicago State's Sara Quevedo scored the Cougars' lone goal in a 2-1 loss at Valparaiso on Wednesday … Dixie State's Whitley Griffiths put a goal on the board in the Trailblazers' 2-1 loss to Utah on Thursday … Grand Canyon's Jaycee Iranshad scored for the Lopes in a 3-2 loss to Arizona State on Thursday night … Utah Valley's Amber Tripp led UVU with five shots, including three on goal, in a scoreless draw at UTEP.
Other defensive nominees: Dixie State's Tess Donaldson played stout defense for the Trailblazers in a 2-1 loss to Utah and 1-1 draw with Southern Utah … NM State's Makenna Gottschalk totaled eight saves on the week in a pair of road losses at UTEP and Arizona … Seattle U's Madison Waguespack made a career-high nine saves in a 1-0 loss at Washington on Thursday … Utah Valley's Isabel Jones-Dawe made one save to earn the shutout in UVU's scoreless draw at UTEP on Saturday.