Owens, Basso, Smith Tabbed Soccer Players of the Week
Southland Conference
FRISCO, Texas – Abilene Christian’s Dylan Owens, Houston Baptist’s Casey Basso and Allyson Smith of Stephen F. Austin are the Southland Conference Soccer Players of the Week, the league announced Tuesday. Southland Players of the Week are presented by
UniversalCoin.com.
Owens was named the Offensive Player of the Week, Basso was voted Defensive Player of the Week and Allyson Smith earned goalkeeper honors for week eight.
All Southland teams are back in action at 7 p.m. CT on Friday. Abilene Christian (6-7-0, 4-2-0 SLC) heads to Lake Charles to take on McNeese (9-3-1, 5-1-0 SLC), Houston Baptist (5-4-2, 4-1-1 SLC) faces Northwestern State (5-8-0, 1-5-0 SLC) on the road and Stephen F. Austin (7-6-0, 4-2-0 SLC) hosts Southeastern Louisiana (3-7-3, 1-3-2 SLC).
Offensive Player of the Week: Dylan Owens, Abilene Christian – Jr. – Forward – Willard, Mo.
Owens scored two goals for the Wildcats in the first 10 minutes of Friday’s contest, quickly sealing a 2-1 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Owens leads the team with six goals and 12 points, helping ACU top the league with 117 shots (19.50 per game) in conference play and rank third with 13 goals through six Southland games played.
Honorable Mention: Kelso Peskin, Lamar; Hanna Barker, Stephen F. Austin; Autumn Wildung, Houston Baptist; Carlota Suarez Crespo, Sam Houston State; Savannah LaRicci, McNeese.
Defensive Player of the Week: Casey Basso, Houston Baptist – Sr. – Defender – Pasadena, Calif.
Basso played a central role in shutting out UIW by a 5-0 score, maintaining a clean sheet for the HBU defense. Additionally, she set up the Huskies’ third goal of the match with a well-placed through ball and then scored her first goal of the year, curling a free kick into the net in the 86th minute. Houston Baptist ranks second in conference play with a .63 goals against average (four goals in six games, 574:28 minutes)
Honorable Mention: Kennedy Rose, Stephen F. Austin; Nikki Schaaf, McNeese.
Goalkeeper of the Week: Allyson Smith, Stephen F. Austin – So. – Goalkeeper – Spring, Texas
Smith shut out Central Arkansas on its home pitch by denying both shots on goal that the defending champion Sugar Bears created. Both attempts were surefire goals, with the second being a one-on-one breakaway by the Southland’s leading goal scorer in 2016, Camille Bassett, which Smith made a diving save on to preserve the 1-0 shutout. Against conference opponents, Smith ranks third in the league with a .71 goals against average (four goals in six games), helping the Ladyjacks to the same ranking as a team (.67).
Honorable Mention: Alanis Guevara, Houston Baptist; Emma Roccaforte, McNeese; Christina Hendershot, Sam Houston State.
Southland weekly award winners are nominated and voted upon by each school’s sports information director. Voting for one’s own athletes is not permitted. To earn honorable mention, a student-athlete must appear on 25 percent of ballots.