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Kelly Isleib Earns Weekly MWC Soccer Accolade
10/14/2008 12:00 AM | Soccer
Oct. 14, 2008
DENVER, Colo. - Junior midfielder Kelly Isleib (Park City, Utah) of the University of Utah soccer team has been selected as the Mountain West Conference Offensive Player of the Week, the conference office announced Monday.
Isleib earned the award following a stellar weekend in which she led the Utes to a pair of conference victories with two breakout offensive performances. In last Thursday's 4-1 victory against San Diego State, Isleib scored the game-winning goal as she put back her own rebound off of a penalty kick and assisted on three other Utah goals. With that performance, she became the first Ute since Staci Burt in 1999 to record three assists in an MWC game and the first Utah player to rack up five points in a conference contest since Lauren Field in 2003.
"It feels great to earn this award after we were able to bounce back so well from that BYU loss a couple weeks ago," said Isleib. "It is really about the whole team and the way we came together to respond. As the season goes on, you figure out your teammates and the way they play, and they figure out how you play, so I think we feel much more connected now. We are growing as a team and we finally broke out last weekend, it felt really good."
Isleib followed up her effort against San Diego State with another strong performance in cold, windy conditions Saturday. She posted the game-winning assist against defending MWC champion UNLV as her perfectly weighted pass into the box allowed sophomore forward Lauren Hair (Alpine, Utah) to easily run onto it and put away the game-winning goal.
"Kelly's game has always been about breaking down defenses and creating opportunities for herself and her teammates," said Utah head coach Rich Manning. "She has been asked to score more this year, but her specialty is setting people up. That is where she is the most comfortable and when she was able to do that over the weekend it restored some order back to our universe. Any time your attacking midfielder is in scoring goals, it really energizes your team and gives a confidence boost and I think we got that last weekend."
All told for the weekend, Isleib scored one goal and posted four assists for a total of six points. She leads the team in goals scored (6), assists (4), points (16) and game-winning goals (4). Isleib is second on the team in shots taken (50) and shots on goal (19). She also ranks in the top 10 in the MWC in each of those categories.
Isleib is just two helpers shy of tying the Utah career assist record of 22 held by Amanda Feigt (2003-06).
Isleib becomes the second Ute to earn a weekly conference award this year, joining junior goalkeeper Emalee Rogers (Centerville, Utah), who was previously named the Defensive Player of the Week.
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