NORMAL, Ill. - Sophomore Rachel Tejada won the first Missouri Valley Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors of 2012, while redshirt-sophomore Aryn Newsom was tabbed as the conference's Goalkeeper of the Week.
Tejada, who won player of the week honors seven times as a freshman in 2011 and was named the Valley player of the year, scored all three Illinois State goals as the Redbirds started the season 1-0-1. The Troy, Ill., native scored twice in ISU's 2-1 win at Southeast Missouri State, before earning and converting a penalty kick in a 1-1 draw with No. 19 Illinois. She also had game-highs for shots in each match, firing four against SEMO and six against Illinois.
Tejada moved into third place on the program's all-time points list with the three goals, eclipsing Mel Routledge with 57. She also moved within five tallies of Jess Carlson's 29 for second place on the all-time goals list.
Newsom stopped a career-high 10 shots during Sunday's draw with the Illini and made an additional three saves at SEMO. After playing all 200 minutes thus far for the Redbirds in 2012, her goals against average stands at 0.90 while her save percentage is .867. Newsom was a member of the MVC All-Freshman team last season and earned one MVC Defensive Player of the Week award. Newsom was also named College Sports Madness' MVC Player of the Week.
The Redbirds are off to their best start through two matches since 2008. They will be back in action Friday, Aug. 24, against Florida Atlantic in Fort Myers, Fla., at 4:00 p.m., before taking on Florida Gulf Coast Sunday, Aug. 26, at 11:00 a.m.
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