OGDEN, Utah (October 27, 2015) – Players who helped their teams win crucial Big Sky Conference soccer games were rewarded with this week’s Player of the Week honors. Eastern Washington’s Aimie Inthoulay and Northern Arizona’s Torey Braly, earned this week’s Offensive Player of the Week award while Montana goalkeeper, Kailey Norman, earned this week’s defensive honor.
Norman, a junior from Highlands Ranch, Colo., earned her second Defensive Player of the Week honor of the season after leading the Grizzlies to two victories. UM needed two wins to qualify for the conference championship and the Grizzly defense, led by Norman, delivered two shutout wins. Norman posted three saves in Friday’s 1-0 win over Portland State, which was the Grizzlies first win against the Vikings in Missoula since 2001. In Sunday’s 1-0 victory against Sacramento State, Norman rejected a Hornet penalty kick on her way to her fifth shutout of the season.
Braly, a senior from Cottonwood, Ariz., scored the Lumberjack’s win on Sunday. Braly moved from defender to striker in Sunday’s game against Weber State and delivered the game’s “golden goal” in the 95
th minute. The win snapped Weber State’s four-game winning streak and kept the Lumberjack’s hope of a Big Sky tournament berth alive. NAU currently sits in sixth in the conference standings with one game left to play.
Inthoulay, a sophomore from Seattle, scored a crucial goal in each of the Eagles’ games this weekend, putting EWU in a tie for second place in the Big Sky soccer standings with one game left to play. EWU tied Northern Colorado 2-2 on Friday and set a new school record for Big Sky wins with a victory at home against North Dakota on Sunday.
Against UNC, Inthoulay scored the equalizing goal in the 71
st minute when she took advantage of a poor Bears clearance and blasted a shot into the net from outside the penalty box. She followed by scoring the game-winner against UND on Sunday when she converted a penalty kick in the 56
th minute. EWU needs a win or a tie and a UNC loss to earn the second seed in the upcoming Big Sky championship.
Others Nominated:
Offensive: Clara Gomez – Idaho; Stacy Bair – Weber State; Kayla Mizo – Idaho State; Ally Thimsen -- Southern Utah
Defensive: Alyssa Lloyd – Idaho; Oliva Swenson – North Dakota; Summer Soriano -- Southern Utah