Oct. 31, 2016 LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - UNLV women's soccer forward Lily Sender has been named the Mountain West Offensive Player of the Week, the league office announced on Monday. The Rebels' leader in goals and points this season recorded the program's first hat trick since 2010 and just the fifth overall in Friday's Mountain West regular season title clinching win over rival Nevada, Reno.
Sender scored goals in the 13th and 21st minutes to give the Rebels an early 2-0 lead they never relinquished. She added what proved to be the game-winning goal in the 52nd minute to put UNLV up 3-0 before the Wolf Pack scored two goals in the last 10 minutes to provide the final margin of 4-2. The win secured the program's first regular season conference title since 2007 and just the fifth overall. This has been a record-breaking year for the Rebels, who have set new program marks for most wins (15), most goals (46) and most assists (46) in a single season.
This is the sixth conference player of the week selection for the Rebels this season, with Michaela Morris (Aug. 22), Dakota Blazak (Aug. 29) and Jordan Magnin (Oct.3) earning offensive honors and Chidera Akubuilo (Aug. 22) and Hayley Wilson (Aug. 29) earning defensive honors. For the first time in program history, UNLV swept the player of the week awards in back-to-back weeks to start the season.
UNLV enters this week's Mountain West Conference Tournament in San Diego with a first round bye as the No. 1 seed. The team will play at 4 p.m. on Thursday against the lowest seed to advance past Tuesday's quarterfinal matches.
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