Alexis Owens (Tennessee/Carmel, Ind.) and Steven Evans (Portland/Portland, Ore.) enjoyed productive outings last week to earn Disney Soccer/NSCAA National Player of the Week honors for Sept. 28.

Owens tallied Tennessee’s first hat trick in nine years to lead the Vols past No. 6 Florida while Evans returned to action after missing the first five games of the season and promptly added eight points to his scoring line with three goals and two assists.

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. 8 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, a schedule of 20 men’s and women’s intercollegiate matches. This week the No. 5 North Carolina Tar Heels host Duke in men’s action beginning at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 30.

Alexis Owens
F, Jr., Tennessee, Carmel, Ind.

Owens registered the first Tennessee hat trick since Sept. 8, 2002, during her first start of 2011 in a 4-2 victory over No. 6 Florida. She entered the contest with just two career goals in 43 matches played before her offensive outburst against UF. Owens scored on all three shots she took in the match, getting things started just 4:05 in by beating UF keeper Taylor Burke from 10 yards out, the third time this season that Tennessee scored on its first shot of a match. She then won a one-on-one battle with a Gator defender at 35:48, taking the ball into the box and sliding it past Burke for the eventual match-winner and making the score 3-0, the first time in the series history that Tennessee had three scores in a match. After the Gators cut the lead to 3-2 late in the match, Owens sealed the victory at 85:11 by taking a feed from sophomore forward Caroline Brown and blasting a drive home from six yards out to complete the 10th hat trick in Lady Vol history. Owens entered the Sunday contest with just a single goal and assist through nine matches in 2011.

Steven Evans
M, So., Portland, Portland, Ore.

Evans returned from injury to score three goals and hand out two assists as the Pilots won all three games last week. Evans, who missed the first five games of the season, scored the game-winner in his 2011 debut on Wednesday night to hand the Pilots a 1-0 win at Washington. Evans’ goal against the Huskies came with just 56 seconds remaining in regulation. He then earned Husky Fever Classic Offensive MVP honors as the Pilots defeated No. 24 Alabama Birmingham 3-2 in Seattle on Friday and Houston Baptist 3-1 on Sunday. He had an assist against the Blazers and two goals and an assist against HBU. With just three games under his belt, Evans already leads the team in both goals and points.

This Year’s Recipients

• Aug. 24: Women – Lexi Kopf, UC Irvine; Men – No selection (season not started)
• Aug. 31: Women – Courtney Jones, North Carolina; Men – Tyler Riggs, Kentucky
• Sept. 7: Women – Krista Lopez, Oklahoma State; Men – Billy Schuler, North Carolina
• Sept. 14: Women – Lindsay Taylor, Stanford; Men – Tim Hopkinson, Old Dominion
• Sept. 21: Women – Katie Stengel, Wake Forest; Men – Philip Aseweh, Liberty

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