Kelsey Carpenter (Texas/Allen, Texas) and Stephen King (Maryland/Medford, N.J.) each played critical roles in their teams’ victories over ranked opponents during Labor Day weekend action and have earned NSCAA Player of the Week honors.

Carpenter had the game-winning goal in both wins by Texas over ranked opponents, vaulting the Longhorns to No. 8 in the NSCAA/adidas national rankings. Meanwhile, King helped Maryland hold on to its No. 1 ranking by logging the game-winning goal and adding two assists in a win over No. 6 UCLA.

Each week, a male and female player will be selected by a committee from a nomination pool comprised of players of the week from each NCAA Division I soccer conference. The players will be announced each Wednesday afternoon from now until Nov. 1 through NSCAA.com, the official website of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. They also will be recognized at halftime of the NSCAA College Game of the Week on Fox Soccer Channel, a schedule of 20 men’s and women’s intercollegiate matches which begin on Wednesday, Sept. 6, when Marquette’s women’s team face Saint Louis.

Kelsey Carpenter, Jr., F, Texas, Allen, Texas
Carpenter scored the game-winning goals in consecutive games against No. 3 Penn State and No. 13 Illinois to help Texas upset two top 15 programs at home last Friday and Sunday. Sunday’s goal moved her into a tie for the No. 10 spot in Texas career goals scored at 16. It was Carpenter’s fifth game-winner of her career and tied her for sixth in the Longhorn record books for all-time game-winning goals.

Stephen King, Jr., M, Maryland, Medford, N.J.
King led the Terrapins to a 4-1 win over No. 6 UCLA this past weekend. King factored in the three of the four goals scored against the Bruins, tallying four points on a goal and two assists.  The junior midfielder assisted on Maryland’s first goal of the match in the 25th minute and then was credited with the game-winning goal just four minutes later. The Medford, N.J., native collected his second assist of the match just a minute and 16 seconds into the second half when he found Jeremy Hall in the box for the third Terrapin goal of the match. In the Terps first three matches, King has three goals and three assists for nine points.

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