BATON ROUGE — If being named the SEC Offensive Player of the Week on Monday were not enough, LSU senior striker Rachel Yepez was named the Soccer America Women’s National Player of the Week on Tuesday for her performance on the opening weekend of Southeastern Conference play.
The Tigers kicked off SEC play at home with an impressive 6-0 win over then No. 8-ranked Georgia and a dominating 5-1 win over Tennessee for their first ever sweep on the opening weekend of league play.
Yepez, a senior from Fayetteville, N.C., was also named to the Soccer America Women’s National Team of the Week after leading the Tigers with three goals and two assists on the weekend.
She scored the game-winning goal against the Lady Volunteers in the ninth minute of Sunday’s match. In fact, Yepez scored two goals just 2 minutes, 6 seconds apart against Tennessee, including the first goal of the match at the 6:52 mark of the first half. She also added one goal and two assists in the victory over the Bulldogs, including an assist on Carlie Banks‘ game-winner in the third minute of play.
Yepez kept constant pressure on opposing goalkeepers this past weekend while firing a total of eight shots with three shots on goal in two matches.
This marks the third time in program history that an LSU Tiger has received National Player of the Week honors from Soccer America as teammate Mo Isom earned recognition on Sept. 2, 2008. Former Tiger Michelle Makasini was also named the Soccer America National Player of the Week on Oct. 9, 2007.
Soccer America Women’s National Player of the Week
Rachel Yepez, LSU
Soccer America Women’s National Team of the Week
GK, Coral Hoover, Sr., Cal Poly
D, Chelsea Buehning, So., Southern California
D, Jessica Schuveiller, So., Notre Dame
D, Andrea Willis, Sr., BYU
M, Amber McCall, Sr., Florida Gulf Coast
F, Kaitlin Bast, Fr., Denver
F, Corky Julien, Sr., James Madison
F, Tiffany McCarty, So., Florida State
F, Laurie Nosbusch, So., Wisconsin
F, Whitney Palmer, Jr., Oklahoma
F, Rachel Yepez, Sr., LSU