ARLINGTON, Texas – Grand Canyon's Gianna Gourley and Utah Valley’s Jenna Shepherd have been named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Women’s Soccer Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, for the match week ending on Monday, Oct. 30.
Gourley, a junior forward, scored four goals in Grand Canyon’s match against Sam Houston last week with a shot on goal percentage of .375. Gourley averaged 4.00 points per game on a total of 16 shots against both NM State and Sam Houston. Gourley tallied a total of 138 minutes of action during the two-game stretch.
Shepherd, a redshirt junior defender, anchored the Utah Valley defense to a pair of WAC title-clinching shutout wins over Southern Utah and Utah Tech. Shepherd led a backline that didn’t give up a single shot on goal over the two matches. Shephard led the backline to limit Southern Utah to just three shots overall and Utah Tech to only three shots as well. The Utah Valley defense dominated possession of the ball in both matches thanks to Shephard and the Wolverine backline.
2022 TicketSmarter WAC Women’s Soccer Weekly Awards
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Gianna Gourley, Jr., F, Grand Canyon(Oct. 31)
Heather Stainbrook, Jr., M, Utah Valley(Oct. 25)
Gianna Gourley, Jr., F, Grand Canyon (Oct. 18)
U’lKaaihue, Fr., M, Seattle U (Oct. 11)
Faith Webber, So., F, Utah Valley(Oct.4)
Whitney Wangsgard, R-Fr., F, Southern Utah(Sept. 27)
Karli Nyland, Jr., F, Utah Tech(Sept. 20)
Caylen Wright, Sr., F/MD, Abilene Christian (Sept. 13)
Gianna Gourley, Jr., F, Grand Canyon (Sept. 6)
Gianna Gourley, Jr., F, Grand Canyon(Aug. 30)
Sammie Sofonia, Fr., F, Southern Utah (Aug. 23)
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Jenna Shepherd,R-Jr. D,Utah Valley (Oct. 31)
Noa Shumacher, Gr., G, California Baptist(Oct. 25)
Michele Adam, Sr., D, Seattle U (Oct.18)
Kayla Thompson, Sr., GK, Utah Tech (Oct. 11)
Makenna Gottschalk, Gr., GK, NM State (Oct. 4)
Noa Schumacher, Gr., GK, California Baptist (Sept. 27)
Noa Schumacher, Gr., GK, California Baptist(Sept. 20)
Kayla Thompson, Sr., GK, Utah Tech (Sept. 13)
Makenna Gottschalk, 5th Year, GK, NM State(Sept. 6)
Noa Schumacher, Grad, GK, California Baptist(Aug. 30)
Kait Raffensperger, So., D, Seattle U (Aug. 23)