DENVER – Nevada defender Whitney Gilson and San Jose State forward Jessica Scott and have been named the Western Athletic Conference Soccer Defensive and Offensive Players of the Week, respectively, for the week of Oct. 8.
This is the first career WAC Player of the Week honor for Gilson and the second WAC Player of the Week Honor for the Pack this season as goalkeeper Marie Cove was named WAC Defensive Player of the Week on October 1.
Gilson, a native of Maple Valley, Wash. (Tahoma HS), anchored Nevada’s defense in a 3-0 shutout against Northern Arizona Friday night. Gilson played a full 90 minutes for Nevada in the win, playing well in the air and clearing out numerous balls on the defensive end of the field. She helped the Nevada defense limit NAU to just one shot on goal in the first half of the 3-0 win. Gilson has played in seven games this season, starting the past four contests. She also played a full 90 minutes in Nevada’s 4-1 win over UC Davis and the team’s 3-0 shutout over UNLV this season.
Scott, a junior forward from San Ramon, Calif. (California), led San Jose State to a 1-1 record in matches this past week. She scored two goals within three minutes of one another in the final five minutes of the game to lift San Jose State to a 2-1 victory over UC Irvine. Scott broke a scoreless deadlock at 84:49, taking a headed through ball by senior teammate Nicole Irwin and chipping it over the UC Irvine goalkeeper and into the back of the net for the score. Scott then added what proved to be her second game-winning goal of the year at 87:27. Scott also took a game-high nine shots, which included three on goal and one that hit the post in the second half, in a narrow 1-0 home loss to Saint Mary’s. Overall, she registered two goals, 16 shots, and six shots on goal over two games.
Other offensive nominees included: Fresno State’s Ali Sill scored the game-winning goal in a 1-0 win over San Francisco ... Nevada freshman forward Cristen Drummond put a pair of goals in the back of the net in a 3-0 win against Northern Arizona ... Candice Clark of Utah State registered a goal with four shots last week against Brigham Young and Utah.
Other defensive nominees included: Boise State junior keeper Jen Burns recorded her third shutout of the season with the Broncos’ 0-0 draw with Northern Arizona ... Fresno State junior defender Selena Gill anchored the Bulldog defense to a 1-0 shutout win over San Francisco ... Freshman goalkeeper Nina Butera made a career-high 11 saves, including one on a first-half penalty kick, to help lead San Jose State to its second victory of 2007 ... Butera recorded 14 saves through two games last week.
