ST. LOUIS – The Illinois State soccer team swept the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week awards after a 2-0 victory at Drake Saturday. Rachel Tejada was named the Offensive Player of the Week while Abby Van Deventer was selected as Defensive Player of the Week and Aryn Newsom earned Goalkeeper of the Week.
Tejada keeps finding records to break. The latest one to fall was the MVC all-time assists record as Tejada dished out the 40th of her career in the win against Drake. More importantly, Tejada scored the game-winning goal on a penalty kick with 15 minutes remaining in the match. The goal was her 13th of the season, which leads the conference. Her goal also sealed the win for ISU, giving the program its second-straight undefeated MVC season.
Van Deventer and the ISU defense recorded their seventh shutout of the season Saturday. Van Deventer played a crucial role in the success by chasing down multiple breakaways. She also won several balls out of the air that posed a threat. She has been a key figure in a defense that allowed just 39 shots in Valley play.
In the net, Newsom tallied her seventh shutout of the season Saturday while making two saves in the net. The saves total does not truly reflect her impact on the game as she knocked several crosses out of the box and was a consistent outlet with her feet at the back of the ISU attack. The shutout was Newsom's fourth in MVC play this season.
The clean sweep of the weekly awards marks the first time this season that a program has accomplished the feat. Just one week remains in the regular season as Thursday night will be the Redbirds' last regular season match.
Kickoff against Idaho is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Adelaide Street Field. The match is the first night game in program history.
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