Colleen Boyd (Oregon State/La Canada, Calif.) and Danny Barrera (UC Santa Barbara/Thousand Oaks, Calif.) have been selected as the NSCAA National Player of the Week honors for the week of Oct. 20.
 
Boyd’s solid play between the pipes helped Oregon State to a pair of nationally-ranked Pac-10 foes, while Barrera had a pair of game-winning goals to spark the Gauchos to a three-win week, including a nationally-televised upset of No. 19 Duke.
 
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. 3 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 features a coast-to-coast Friday evening doubleheader. It kicks off with a clash of Big East powers when Notre Dame’s men’s team travels to No. 5 Connecticut for an 8 p.m. ET contest. The FSC cameras then swing to the West Coast, where the No. 2-ranked Portland women’s team will head south to test San Diego at 11 p.m. ET.
 

Colleen Boyd
K, Jr., Oregon State, La Canada, Calif.
Boyd was a stalwart in goal for the Beavers over the weekend, recording shutouts against No. 19 USC and No. 16 UCLA. The La Canada, Calif., native recorded four saves in a 1-0 victory over USC and two in a 3-0 win over UCLA. Boyd showed great leadership and command of the OSU defense which only allowed a combined six shots over both matches.  The two shutouts gives her nine on the season, an Oregon State single-season record. Boyd has made 36 saves to date and has only allowed seven goals. Her saves percentage of .837 is top in the Conference and she ranks 15th nationally with a .529 goals against average. She also leads a Beaver defense that ranks fifth in the country with a .692 shutout percentage.
 

Danny Barrera
M, Jr., UC Santa Barbara, Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Barrera guided UC Santa Barbara to an impressive 3-0-0 record last week, netting him Big West Offensive Player of the Week accolades. The junior scored two of the Gauchos' three game-winning goals last week, guiding the club to first place in the Big West standings. After picking up three shots in UC Santa Barbara's 2-1 win over rival Cal Poly, Barrera’s first game-winner came in the 56th minute of UCSB’s 2-0 win over 11th-ranked Duke, a nationally televised contest. He then picked up the winner in the Gauchos' 4-3 comeback win over UC Riverside, a 75th minute strike that completed the UCSB rally. He also added an assist on the Gauchos' second goal. Barrera played 265 of 270 possible minutes over the three matches and is now second on the team with 11 points (3 g, 5 a).
 
This Year’s Recipients
Aug. 25: Women – Sydney Leroux, UCLA; Men – No selection (season not started)
Sept. 1: Women – Alyssa Mautz, Texas A&M; Men – No selection (season not started)
Sept. 8: Women – Katy Frierson, Auburn; Men – Darlington Nagbe, Akron
Sept. 15: Women – McKenzie Barney, Florida; Men – Andrew Fontein, UC Irvine
Sept. 22: Women – Alyssa Rich, North Carolina; Men – Juan Castillo, SMU
Sept. 29: Women – Kristen Mewis, Boston College; Men – Anthony Ampaipitakwong, Akron
Oct. 6: Women – Meghan Lenczyk, Virginia; Men – Dylan Mares, Louisville
Oct. 13: Women – Colleen Deegan, Maryland; Men – Will Bruin, Indiana

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