Kirkhoff, Raper, Cox Earn #SummitWSOC Weekly Honors

9/8/2014 12:00:00 AM

ELMHURST, Ill. – IUPUI's Krissy Kirkhoff and South Dakota State's Shelby Raper were named The Summit League's Women's Soccer Offensive Players of the Week while Oral Roberts' Kaily Cox earned Defensive Player of the Week honors for their performances Sept. 2-7.

OFFENSIVE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Krissy Kirkhoff, IUPUI
Fr. // F // Indianapolis, Ind.
Kirkhoff earns her first career Offensive Player of the Week award after recording a hat trick in the 3-2 win at Eastern Illinois Sunday. The three goals by the freshman were the first of her career and guided the Jaguars to their first-ever win over the Panthers. She recorded just the fifth hat trick in IUPUI history and first since 2001. Kirkhoff's trifecta was the third time this season a Summit League player has collected at least three goals in a game.

Shelby Raper, South Dakota State
So. // F // Franktown, Colo.
Raper collects her first career Offensive Player of the Week honor after tallying seven points in two South Dakota State victories last week. Trailing 2-0 vs. Drake, the sophomore scored a pair of goals in a seven-minute span to erase the deficit and help guide the Jackrabbits to a 3-2 win. Raper added a goal and assist in the 3-1 win over Bemidji State on Sunday. She leads the team with four goals and nine points this season and has already surpassed her totals from a year ago.

Also nominated: Anna Sibson, Omaha; Taylor Nivala, South Dakota.

Previous honorees: Aug. 25 – Lizzie Lukas, NDSU/Rebecca Sparkman, USD; Sept. 2 – Lauren Miller, NDSU.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Kaily Cox, Oral Roberts
Jr. // D // Tulsa, Okla.
Cox records her first career Defensive Player of the Week award after helping Oral Roberts to a 2-1 win at SMU last week. The win was the first all-time for the Golden Eagles over the Mustangs. Cox not only led a back line that surrendered just one goal to its American Athletic Conference opponent, but netted the game-winner in the 87^th minute for her first points of the year.

Also nominated: Nicole Kulovitz, IUPUI; Haley Shelton, Omaha.

Previous honoree: Aug. 25 – Victoria Kappel, WIU; Sept. 2 – Sierra Bonham, NDSU.

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.

#SummitWSOC