TicketSmarter WAC Women’s Soccer Players of the Week Announced
DENVER – Dixie State's Whitley Griffiths and UT Rio Grande Valley's Maile Lunardi were selected as the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week for March 1 through March 7, respectively.
Griffiths, a redshirt junior forward from Gilbert, Ariz., posted an astounding 10 points across a pair of matches against Chicago State. On Thursday, Griffiths recorded a hat trick to help the Trailblazers to their first Division I win in program history. She followed that performance with a brace on Saturday to carry the Trailblazers to a 4-0 victory.
Lunardi, a junior from Highland Park, Ill., tallied her fifth shutout of the season while leading the Vaqueros to a perfect 2-0 weekend. Against NM State on Thursday, she collected a pair of second-half saves to help UTRGV to a 2-1 win over the Aggies. She then posted the sixth shutout of her career as she collected two saves in a 1-0 victory.
Other offensive nominees: California Baptist's Amy Aquino scored the game-winner in CBU's 2-1 win over Utah Valley on Thursday… Grand Canyon's Jaycee Iranshad assisted on the game-winner in the Lopes 2-1 win over Seattle U on Saturday while also adding a goal for GCU on Thursday… Seattle U's Sydney Carr tallied a hat trick as she led the Redhawks to a 4-2 victory over Grand Canyon on Thursday… UT Rio Grande Valley's Emily Zapata scored a pair of game-winning goals to carry the Vaqueros to a series sweep of NM State last week.
Other defensive nominees: California Baptist's Romy Salvador collected seven saves as she allowed just one goal in 200 minutes in net for the Lancers… Dixie State's Adelle Brown was in goal for a pair of Trailblazer wins as she held Chicago State scoreless in both matches… Grand Canyon's Jordan Ferguson secured nine saves last week, including six stops in first career start to lead the Lopes to a win on Saturday… Utah Valley's Sydney Bushman anchored a Wolverine back-line that gave up just one goal in 200:00 minutes of play against California Baptist.