Cal Poly freshman Sara Epps and Cal State Fullerton junior Lindsey Maricic performed outstandingly to help their clubs win twice in overtime, and were selected the Big West Women's Soccer Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively.
Epps Nets Game-Winner in Shootout with Long Beach State
Freshman Sara Epps (Santa Maria, Calif./St. Joseph's HS) helped Cal Poly overcome a two goal deficit against preseason conference favorite Long Beach State to notch Big West Women's Soccer Offensive Player of the Week honors.
In the 73rd minute, Epps picked up a deflection from the LBSU goalkeeper and buried her third goal of the year to tie the match at 2-2.
Cal Poly went up 3-2 at the 82:31 mark for its third goal in a 12-minute span. This time Epps collected an assist as she fed a pass to teammate Elise Krieghoff and set her up beautifully in a one-on-one situation with the LBSU goalie.
However, more heroics were needed from Epps as the 49ers tied the match at 3-3 apiece with less than two minutes remaining in regulation. And she provided them midway through the second overtime period, taking a feed and hitting a one-touch into the net for her second game-winning goal of the season.
The win, coupled with Cal Poly's 2-1 overtime triumph Friday against UC Irvine, put the Mustangs in sole possession of first place in the Big West at 4-0-0.
Others nominated: Erica Mazeau (Cal State Fullerton); Melissa Fernandez (Cal State Northridge); Renee Mendiola (Long Beach State); Sienna Drizin (UC Davis); Laura McGrail (UC Irvine)
Maricic Blanks Pair of Road Opponents
Cal State Fullerton junior Lindsey Maricic (Alta Loma, Calif./Los Osos HS) recorded back-to-back shutouts in a pair of important overtime road wins to gain the Big West Women's Soccer Defensive Player of the Week award.
The netminder saved all 10 shots on frame – five in each match – as the Titans slipped by Cal State Northridge and Hawai‘i by identical 1-0 scores.
Maricic faced 12 shots against CSUN and tied her season high with five saves, only needing to play the first 58 seconds of overtime before a Titan golden goal.
The opposite occurred against the Rainbow Wahine when the Titans scored the game-clinching goal with just over a minute remaining in the second overtime. Maricic saw 16 UH shots over the course of that game while tying her season-best in saves once again.
Maricic lowered her goals against average to 0.97 while tallying her third and fourth clean sheets of the season. She now owns a shutout streak of 268:37 that dates back to a first half goal against Long Beach State on Sept. 30.
Others nominated: Chloe McDaniel (Cal State Northridge)