Both the men’s and women’s soccer programs at Utah Valley University started off the homecoming week winning. No, not for any games played yet — your Wolverines had three players bring home WAC Player of the Week honors for the week of Sept. 16-23.
Women’s Soccer
A sweep of the weekly honor for the women’s team. As sophomore forward Julianna Carter took offensive Player of the Week, and redshirt freshman defender Jenna Shepherd taking it home for the defense.
Shepherd is from American Fork, Utah, and is the third freshman defender/goalkeeper to be selected this season in the WAC. She was selected for this honor due to her stout defensive play in each of the Wolverines three games last week.
She led the UVU defense in limiting No. 10 Brigham Young University to one goal on Sept. 16. She then helped the Wolverines to secure a 1-1 draw against University of San Diego at home in rain delayed double overtime game on Sept. 20. Most importantly, Shepherd led the defense in 3-0 shutout at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas in the third game. Shepherd also added an assist to cap off her impressive week.
Who did Shepherd’s assist go to? Our offensive Player of the Week, Julianna Carter.
Carter is from Jasper, Texas, and currently leads the Wolverines in goals scored this season with five. However, she was selected for this honor because of her three goals scored last week — one being a game-winner, of which she now has two on the season.
She netted her first goal of the week against USD, which led to and helped preserve the 1-1 draw. Her next two goals came against UNLV on Sunday, Sept. 22. Carter’s first of the game came as the game-winner, and her second coming late in the second half, pushing the lead to 3-0.
So, with those three goals last week Carter now ranks second in the WAC for total goals scored on the season.
Men’s Soccer
The third WAC Player of the Week honor came from the men’s team. Senior forward Blake Frischknecht took home the honor for offensive Player of the Week.
Frischknecht is from Las Vegas, Nevada, and scored in each of UVU’s three games last week. His first goal of the week came in the Sept. 16 match against the University of California-Irvine. It was a game that UVU went on to lose in double overtime.
Frischknecht’s next goal was a game-winner against Santa Clara University, and in his hometown of Las Vegas in the Johann Memorial Classic. His final goal came in the final game of the tournament against the No. 6 ranked team in the nation, Saint Mary’s University. The goal in that game was important as it prevented the Wolverines from being shutout.
With the three goals last week, Frischknecht is now tied for the WAC lead in goals scored. He’s also tied for third in total points at eight in the conference.
Congratulations to each of these three Wolverines on the WAC Player of the Week honors. For more information on each of them and their teams head to, https://gouvu.com/index.aspx or https://wacsports.com/landing/index.
