This week's MVC women's soccer players of the week are Megan Nemec of Loyola; Kelsie Stone of Drake; and Mackenzie Kent of Indiana State.
Women's Soccer Weekly Notebook (PDF)
Offensive Player of the Week
Megan Nemec, Loyola
Jr., F/MF, Tinley Park, Ill.
Loyola junior forward/midfielder Megan Nemec looked to pick up right where she left off this past spring, helping lead the Ramblers to a pair of victories to open the season. After dishing out an assist in Thursday's 2-1 road win over Miami (Ohio), the Tinley Park, Ill. native fired home a pair of goals in the first half of the Maroon & Gold's comprehensive 3-0 triumph over defending Ohio Valley Conference champion SIUE on Sunday afternoon at Loyola Soccer Park. The reigning MVC Player of the Year, Nemec is coming off a sophomore year in which she tallied three goals and nine assists.
Defensive Player of the Week
Kelsie Stone, Drake
Sr., GK, Hoffman Estates, Ill.
Bulldogs senior goalkeeper Kelsie Stone registered 10 saves against Kansas and nine against Creighton. Her 10 saves against Kansas were the second highest in her career. She currently lead the MVC with most saves at 19 and most saves per game with an average of 9.50. She played all 110 minutes in Drake’s 0-0, double overtime draw against Kansas and all 90 minutes against Creighton.
Freshman of the Week
Mackenzie Kent, Indiana State
Fr., F, Aurora, Ind.
One of the newest members of the Sycamores quickly made her presence felt in the offense with four shots over the weekend including three on goal against Northern Illinois. Kent found the back of the net in the 90th minute on Sunday for her first career goal to send the game into overtime.
ILS .. Two With Two
Illinois State is the only team in the MVC with two players with a pair of a goals as fifth-year senior Natalie Vaughn-Low netted a season-opening brace in a 4-0 win at Eastern Michigan and senior Riley O’Brien scored against both Eastern Michigan and Illinois. Vaughn-Low and O’Brien are in a five-way tie for the MVC lead.
LUC .. (Almost) Nothing Beats A Pair
After finishing last spring’s abbreviated season with an MVC-high 21 goals, Loyola’s offense didn’t look to miss a beat during the opening week of the 2021 season, as the Ramblers fired home five goals across two victories. Since the start of the 2018 season, the Maroon & Gold own an impressive 28-1-0 (.965) record when scoring at least two goals in a game.
MSU .. Brewer’s Final Season
Head Coach Rob Brewer announced his retirement on Wednesday which will go into effect at the completion of the season. Brewer started the Missouri State program in 1996 and has helped lead the Bears to NCAA Tournament appearances in 2000 and 2017, in addition to finishing in the top three of the Missouri Valley Conference standings 11 times. Brewer has helped mentor 109 all-conference selections and 82 academic all-conference honorees during his tenure and has compiled a 220-202-56 record with the Bears.
UE .. Monique Breaks the Streak
In the 48th minute of Sunday’s game against Belmont, junior forward Monique Landrum scored to break an incomprehensible streak for Evansville. Landrum became the first goal scorer in 1,144 minutes of soccer for the Aces to not be named Emily or Emilie, dating back to the 2019 regular season. Following Landrum’s goal, the streak started again with Emilie Hill scoring twice for the Aces.
VU .. Iron Women
Junior center back Nicole Norfolk played all 180 minutes of Valpo’s first two matches of the season and has now played all 3,218 minutes of Valpo’s matches since stepping on campus in the fall of 2019. She is less than 200 minutes shy of the program’s known record for consecutive minutes played.
DU .. BIG 12 Draw
Drake played BIG 12 opponent Kansas and ended in a double overtime, 0-0 draw. Goalkeeper Kelsie Stone saved a season high of 10 shots. The Bulldogs were able to shut down the Jayhawk offense and force them to regroup throughout the match. The Bulldogs also lost to former MVC foe and current BIG East conference member Creighton. The Bulldogs were unable to get past the Bluejays defense, but held them to only one goal in each half.
INS .. Freshmen Flashes
Seven different freshmen made their Sycamore debuts over the weekend including Mackenzie Kent and Chloe Tesny who both scored their first career goals. Tara Tesmond tallied four saves in her first career starts in goal.
UNI .. Points Getter
For the first time since 2017, the Panthers were able to collect a total of 15 points on Saturday afternoon against Viterbo University. The Panthers last 15 point contest was on August 20th, 2017 against Chicago State.
SIU .. Taking the Shots
After a 0-2 loss to UT-Martin on Thursday, SIU bounced back with a strong 0-0 draw to North Alabama Sunday afternoon, outshooting the Lions 16 to eight and tying last season’s individual-game high in shots only two games into the season. 2020 All-MVC Second Team nominee, junior forward Emma Spotak, led the Salukis with four shots and two on-goal in the match.
LUC .. Off And Running
Loyola turned in a pair of impressive performances during the season’s opening week, downing Miami (Ohio) on the road on Thursday, 2-1, before throttling SIUE, 3-0, in Sunday’s home opener. This marks the first time since the 2011 season that the Ramblers have started the season with back-to-back victories.
UE .. Three Goals and Three Points
Evansville’s offense got rolling on Sunday with a 3-0 win over Belmont. The Aces three goals were the most Evansville has scored in a game since a 3-0 win over Tennessee Tech at home on August 31, 2018.