Kathleen Caggiano (Robert Morris/Moon Township, Pa.) and Alejandro Bedoya (Boston College/Weston, Fla.) have earned NSCAA National Player of the Week honors for Sept. 23.

Caggiano led her Robert Morris side to the title of the UNLV Rebel Classic, while Bedoya found his scoring stroke in a big way with a hat trick against nationally-ranked North Carolina.

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. 10 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. This week the women’s schedule will showcase a clash of perennial powers as No. 2 UCLA travels to Santa Clara for an 11 p.m. ET contest on Thursday, Sept. 25. The following evening features the nation’s top two men’s teams as reigning NCAA champion and current No. 1 Wake Forest invades No. 2 Maryland for an 8 p.m. ET start.

Kathleen Caggiano
F, So. Robert Morris, Moon Township, Pa.
Caggiano had a foot in every goal last weekend, finishing with seven points on three goals and an assist as the Colonials went 2-0 to win the 2008 UNLV Rebel Classic.  The sophomore forward, who now leads the team with 10 points this season (four goals, two assists), tallied both scores in a 2-1 triumph over host UNLV on Friday night as RMU handed the Rebels their first loss in 12 home games. The Moon Township native followed that performance by tallying the game’s opening goal and assisting on the game-winner in a 2-1 victory over Idaho in Sunday’s championship game. Caggiano has either scored or provided the helper on six of the team’s nine goals this season.

Alejandro Bedoya
M, Sr., Boston College, Weston, Fla.
After missing the first two games of the season, Bedoya registered his first career hat trick to lead the 16th-ranked Eagles to a 4-1 win over No. 7 North Carolina. The Weston, Fla., native’s first score came in the 43rd minute when he connected from 22 yards. He doubled the BC lead less than three minutes into the second half with a header off a cross from teammate Mario Uribe. Bedoya concluded the game's scoring and completed his first career hat trick in the 73rd minute, when he fired a pass from teammate Shawn Chin into the net from eight yards out. The hat trick marked Bedoya’s first three scores of his four-game 2008 campaign.

This Year’s Recipients
Sept. 3: Women – Jenae Gibbens, Cal State Fullerton; Men – Baggio Husidic, UIC.
Sept. 10: Women – Lindsay Taylor, Stanford; Men – Sam Petrone, Seton Hall.
Sept. 17: Women – Briana Silvestri, Arizona State; Men – Paul King, Fairleigh Dickinson.

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