Kirkhoff, Hall, Schimdt, McNeary Earn #SummitWSOC Weekly Honors
Kirkhoff, Hall, Schimdt, McNeary Earn #SummitWSOC Weekly Honors
ELMHURST, Ill. – IUPUI's Krissy Kirkhoff and Western Illinois' Sarah Hall were named The Summit League's Women's Soccer Offensive Players of the Week while IUPUI's Catherine Schmidt and South Dakota State's Katie McNeary were named the Defensive Players of the Week for their performances Oct. 27 – Nov. 2. The awards mark the final ones of the season.
OFFENSIVE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Krissy Kirkhoff, IUPUI
Fr. // F // Indianapolis, Ind.
Kirkhoff earns her third Offensive Player of the Week award this season after leading IUPUI to a pair of wins, securing a spot in the tournament. The freshman forward scored the game-winner in Friday's 4-1 victory over South Dakota. In Sunday's 2-0 shutout win over Omaha, she scored both Jaguar goals. For the week, Kirkhoff collected three goals for six points off seven shots and a pair of game-winners. Her nine goals on the year are the most by a IUPUI player since 2008 and the Jags earned a spot in the league tournament for the first time since 2009.
Sarah Hall, Western Illinois
Sr. // F // Granger, Ind.
Hall earns her second-straight Offensive Player of the Week honor after guiding Western Illinois to a pair of league wins last week. The senior forward netted both WIU goals in Friday's 2-1 win over Omaha, one being a converted penalty kick in the 54th minute to tie the match. She also connected on two scores in Sunday's 4-3 shootout win over South Dakota. Hall netted four goals on 11 shots for eight points and scored seven goals in the final four Leatherneck games.
Also nominated: Lauren Miller, North Dakota State; Hannah Wampler, Omaha; Corey Strang, South Dakota; Nicole Hatcher, South Dakota State.
Previous honorees: Aug. 25 – Lizzie Lukas, NDSU/Rebecca Sparkman, USD; Sept. 2 – Lauren Miller, NDSU; Sept. 8 – Krissy Kirkhoff, IUPUI/Shelby Raper, SDSU; Sept. 15 – Krissy Kirkhoff, IUPUI; Sept. 22 – Tori Minnich, IUPUI; Sept. 29 – Corey Strang, USD; Oct. 6 – Chelsi Rohloff, UNO/Diana Potterveld, SDSU; Oct. 13 – Diana Potterveld, SDSU; Oct. 20 – Ashley Martin, ORU; Oct. 27 – Sarah Hall, WIU; Nov. 3 – Krissy Kirkhoff, IUPUI/Sarah Hall, WIU.
DEFENSIVE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Catherine Schmidt, IUPUI
Fr. // GK // Zionsville, Ind.
Schmidt captures her second career Defensive Player of the Week honor after recording two wins for IUPUI in net, including one shutout. The two victories solidified a tournament spot for the Jaguars for the first time since 2009. The freshman goalie had six saves and surrendered one goal in a 4-1 win over South Dakota on Friday. She followed that performance by blanking Omaha 2-0, collecting three saves, for her second shutout of the year. For the week, Schmidt had nine saves with a .900 save percentage and 0.50 goals against average.
Katie McNeary, South Dakota State
Jr. // D // Aberdeen, S.D.
McNeary earns her second career Defensive Player of the Week award after anchoring the South Dakota State backline in Friday's 2-0 shutout win over Denver. The victory clinched The Summit League regular season title for the Jackrabbits and top seed in this week's tournament. McNeary led SDSU's defensive unit which limited Denver to nine shots with only two being on goal. In their previous four matches, the Pioneers had outshot their opponents 80-19.
Also nominated: Haley Shelton, Omaha.
Previous honorees: Aug. 25 – Victoria Kappel, WIU; Sept. 2 – Sierra Bonham, NDSU; Sept. 8 – Kaily Cox, ORU; Sept. 15 – Mackenzie Bothner, DU; Sept. 22 – Cassidy Rey, DU; Sept. 29 – Lauren Bennett, USD; Oct.6 – Mackenzie Viktor, USD; Oct. 13 – Catherine Schmidt, IUPUI; Oct. 20 – Sierra Bonham, NDSU; Oct. 27 – Sam Harder, DU; Nov. 3 – Catherine Schmidt, IUPUI/Katie McNeary, SDSU.
ABOUT THE SUMMIT LEAGUE
In its fourth decade of Division I athletics, The Summit League offers 19 championship sports and has a combined enrollment of over 120,000 at nine institutions, including four located in top 60 U.S. metro populations and two land-grant universities. Member institutions include: Denver (University of Denver), Fort Wayne (Indiana University-Purdue University-Fort Wayne), IUPUI (Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis), North Dakota State University, Omaha (University of Nebraska Omaha), Oral Roberts University, the University of South Dakota, South Dakota State University and Western Illinois University. Previously known as the Mid-Continent Conference, The Summit League rebranded in 2007 and has since produced eight NCAA Champions along with over 65 All-Americans, 60 Academic All-America selections and numerous former student-athletes competing at the highest professional level. For more information about the league and to "See The Summit", visit www.thesummitleague.org, follow on Twitter @thesummitleague, download The Summit League's Front Row app, and watch the weekly "Inside The Summit League" show at www.thesummitleague.org/itsl.
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