Meghan Walker (William and Mary/Wallingford, Pa.) and Maxwell Griffin (UCLA/Palmdale, Calif.) have been named the NSCAA National Players of the Week for Sept. 19.

Walker became the second goalkeeper to earn the honor this season by shutting out reigning national champion North Carolina. Her seven saves against the Tar Heels gave William and Mary its first victory over UNC in 22 tries. Griffin posted the first hat trick of his college career in UCLA’s 4-1 over Penn State. He also had the first goal in the Bruins’ upset of No. 12 Ohio State earlier in the week.

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 are 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 are recognized at halftime of the NSCAA College Match of the Week on Fox Soccer Channel, a schedule of 20 men’s and women’s intercollegiate matches. This week will feature a pair of telecasts, including a women’s intrastate rivalry on Thursday, Sept. 20, Georgia State (4-1-0) traveling to Athens to face Georgia (5-1-0) at 8 p.m. ET. Friday’s match will spotlight a Big East Conference clash with Notre Dame (3-1-1) taking on Rutgers (1-3-1), also at 8 p.m. ET.

Meghan Walker
GK, Jr., William and Mary, Wallingford, Pa.
Walker earned MVP honors at the VCU/Ewing Sports Invitational after posting back-to-back shutouts in William & Mary’s victories over Navy (4-0) and No. 2 North Carolina (1-0). The Tribe was out-shot 17-1 by the defending national champion Tar Heels, but Walker made seven saves to give W&M its first win over UNC in 22 all-time meetings. She also stopped one shot in the Tribe’s triumph over the Middies. Walker lowered her GAA to 0.67 on the season.

Maxwell Griffin
F, Jr., UCLA, Palmdale, Calif.
Griffin recorded his first career hat trick in a 4-1 win over Penn State on Sunday and scored the game’s first goal in the ninth minute in a 3-1 win over No. 12 Ohio State. Griffin’s hat trick was the first by a UCLA player since 2003. Against Ohio State, he gave UCLA the early lead with a shot from the left side to the far post at 8:58. Against Penn State, Griffin’s first goal made the score 2-0 in the 55th minute. After Penn State cut the lead in half nine minutes later, Griffin provided some breathing room with a shot from five yards out into the right corner in the 77th minute for the game-winning goal. His final goal came in the 82nd minute.

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