United Soccer Coaches honors seven with Player of the Week award

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Sept. 25, 2018) – United Soccer Coaches honored seven student-athletes with Player of the Week honors, the association announced on Tuesday.

NCAA Division I Men: Andre Shinyashiki (Denver)
NCAA Division I Women: Chelsee Washington (Bowling Green)
NCAA Division II Men: Pijus Petkevicius (Illinois Springfield)
NCAA Division II Women: Emily Hopkins (Southern Indiana)
NCAA Division III Men: Andrea Codispoti (Trinity (Texas) University)
NCAA Division III Women: Caitlin Mertens (University of Lynchburg)
Junior College Women: Laura Chavez (Iowa Western CC)

University of Denver senior forward Andre Shinyashiki (Sao Paulo, Brazil) captured his second straight Player of the Week award after scoring all four goals in a come-from-behind 4-3 win at Omaha. Trailing 2-0 in the second half, Shinyashiki scored three goals in a span of 3:51 to put Denver in front before later scoring the game-winner. Bowling Green junior midfielder Chelsee Washington (Carrollton, Texas) scored three goals and had one assist for seven points. She notched both game-winners during the week as BGSU went 2-0.

It was a clean sweep of the NCAA Division II awards for the GLVC. Illinois Springfield freshman goalkeeper Pijus Petkevicius (Vilnius, Lithuania) recorded a pair of shutout victories in net, including a 1-0 win over No. 9-ranked Indianapolis. Southern Indiana senior goalkeeper Emily Hopkins (Greenfield, Ind.) made 15 saves over 200 shutout minutes last week as the Screaming Eagles went 1-0-1 on the week.

Trinity (Texas) sophomore forward Andrea Codispoti (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) scored three goals and dished out one assist for seven points as ninth-ranked Trinity went 2-0. University of Lynchburg senior forward Caitlin Mertens (Succasunna, N.J.) scored six goals and had one assist for 13 points over the course of two victories. She recorded back-to-back hat tricks for Lynchburg.

Rounding out the Player of the Week honorees is Iowa Western Community College sophomore forward Laura Chavez (Bogota, Colombia), who scored three goals and dished out two assists for eight points in her only action of the week.

Each Tuesday during the college regular season, United Soccer Coaches selects a men’s and women’s Player of the Week for NCAA Division I, Division II, Division III and Junior College competition based on nominations from schools and conferences. Nominations are due every Tuesday by 10 a.m. CT to be considered.