Pac-12 Announces Women's Soccer Players of the Week
SAN FRANCISCO - The Conference office announced today the Pac-12 Women's Soccer Players of the Week for the week of Oct. 12-18. CALIFORNIA's Samantha Witteman took home Offensive Player of the Week honors, while her teammate Indigo Gibson was voted Defensive Player of the Week and ARIZONA’s Lainey Burdett was tabbed Goalkeeper of the Week.
Witteman (Redondo Beach, Calif.) had a foot in all three goals for the Bears last weekend. The senior had the game-winning goal versus then-No. 19 Santa Clara in the 61st minute, giving California a 1-0 lead that it would not relinquish. California then welcomed Utah to Berkeley and won 2-0, with Witteman assisting on both goals. She has been involved in the game-winning goal in each of the last three games for Cal and assisting on the game-winning goal against the Utes for her first career multi-assist game. It is the first career weekly honor for Witteman and the fourth time Cal has earned the offensive weekly honor this season. With the offensive and defensive honors this week, it is the 36th all-time weekly accolade for the Golden Bears.
Gibson (Las Flores, Calif.) played the full 90 minutes in both of the Bears’ matches last weekend. In the 1-0 victory over then-No. 19 Santa Clara, Gibson and her teammates limited the Broncos to three shots for the game. In the 2-0 win versus Utah, the Utes only had one shot on goal. She also got credit for the second assist on the opening goal to help defeat Utah. California now has nine shutouts on the season. It is Gibson’s first career weekly recognition and she is the second Bear to claim defensive weekly honors this year. California now has 36 all-time weekly honors after the two selections this week.
Burdett (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Wildcats were able to upset No. 16 Washington State last weekend by a score of 1-0. The true freshman had a season-best nine saves in the match, the most by a Wildcat since September 2014. It is Arizona’s seventh shutout of the season and only the second time all year the Cougars have not scored a goal in a match. Since the Pac-12 Goalkeeper of the Week was created in 2014, Burdett is the first true freshman and the first Wildcat to garner the award. Arizona now has 17 all-time weekly accolades./span>
No. 14 California heads to Seattle to face Washington on Friday at 4 p.m. PT (Pac-12 Network). The Bears then go to Pullman and face No. 25 Washington State on Sunday at 1 p.m. PT (Pac-12 Network)./span>
Arizona hosts Oregon on Friday at 7 p.m. PT and the Oregon State Beavers on Sunday at 1 p.m. PT.
ALSO NOMINATED
Offensive: Jessica Nelson, ARIZ; Jessica Raybe, ASU; Nikki Faris, OSU; Michelle Xiao, STAN; Darian Jenkins, UCLA; Nicole Molen, USC; Pascale Dumensil, WASH.
Defensive: Sheaffer Skadsen, ARIZ; Greta Espinoza, OSU; Laura Liedle, STAN; Kayla Mills, USC.
Goalkeeper: Emily Boyd, CAL; Bella Geist, OSU; Jane Campbell, STAN; Sammy Jo Prudhomme, USC.
2015 PAC-12 WOMEN'S SOCCER PLAYERS OF THE WEEK