Sept. 15, 2009

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Samford sophomore Alyssa Whitehead was named the Southern Conference Women's Soccer Player of the Week Monday for all games played September 8-14. Whitehead tallied four saves in a 1-0 win over Belmont on Sunday. The Hattiesburg, Miss., native helped the Bulldogs improve to 4-0-1 on the season.

Whitehead anchors a defense that has not allowed a goal this season. Samford is currently one of just five teams in the nation that has not surrendered a goal in 2009. She leads the league with four shutouts and has tallied 21 saves in 460 minutes of game action. Whitehead is also averaging 4.2 saves per match this season.

Tuesday's award is the second of Whitehead's young collegiate career. Last season, she earned SoCon Player of the Week honors on Oct. 21, after she registered a pair of shutout victories against conference-foes College of Charleston and The Citadel.

Whitehead was also named to the SoCon All-Freshman team a year ago.

The Samford University soccer team will play its final two regularly-scheduled nonconference games of the season this weekend. The Bulldogs will visit Kennesaw State on Friday at 6 p.m., before hosting Winthrop at 1 p.m., Sunday.

Other top performers this week were College of Charleston's Sarah Wiggers, Chattanooga's Becca Smith, Furman's Katya Gokhman, UNC Greensboro's Kristin Player, Western Carolina's Rachel Shomper and Wofford's Nikki Siebert.

2009 SoCon Players of the Week
Sept. 1 - Alexa Jones, Furman
Sept. 8 - Martha Hall, Furman
Sept. 15 - Alysssa Whitehead, Samford

SoCon Weekly Release