TicketsCINCINNATI - The final week of awards for women's soccer was announced by the American Athletic Conference today with three University of Cincinnati players earning accolades, including Vanessa Gilles and Madison Less, who were named this week's Defensive Player and Goalkeeper of the Week, respectively. Sophie Gorman also was selected to the weekly Honor Roll by the league after the Bearcats downed visiting ECU, 1-0, Friday night to go undefeated at home this season (8-0-3), the first time the team had done that since 1996.
Gilles started and played the full 90 as she earned her 81st career start, the 8th-most in program history. She helped limit ECU to eight total shots as the team recorded its 11th shutout of the season, the most of any team in the AAC. Her play also helped bring about several UC records, including the most home shutouts in a season (eight), the most wins in a home season (eight) and the most shutouts by a senior class at UC (27).
Less posted six saves on the night to help UC defeat ECU as the rookie keeper earned her sixth win of the season while posting her league-leading seventh shutout. As a team, UC now has 11 shutouts, just the sixth time in a single season UC has double-digit clean sheets while the 11 rank as the third-most in a single season. Her 0.63 goals-against average currently ranks as the fourth-best in the program's single-season history behind a trio of seniors.
Gorman scored the lone goal in the match against ECU to give the Bearcats third place in the American and help UC to an undefeated home record of 8-0-3 this year. Her goal was her team-leading sixth of the season and her third game-winner, which ties her for the team lead. Her game-winner also saw her both open the year and close the regular season with the game-winning goal in a 1-0 win as UC defeated Buffalo to open the 2017 season.
For the year, the Bearcats earned 19 weekly accolades from the conference. All told, the Bearcats grabbed nine major weekly awards this season, including six defensive player honors (four for Gilles and two for Kiki Lowell), two offensive player awards (Jaycie Brown and Julie Gavorski) and one goalkeeper honor (Less). With Gorman's selection this week, the Bearcats also added 10 Honor Roll awards as well.
Offensive Player of the Week
• Jaycie Brown (9/11)
• Julie Gavorski (9/4)
Defensive Player of the Week
• Vanessa Gilles (8/21, 8/28, 9/11, 10/30)
• Kiki Lowell (9/25, 10/2)
Goalkeeper of the Week
• Madison Less (10/30)
Honor Roll
• Julie Gavorski (8/28)
• Sophie Gorman (9/11, 10/16, 10/30)
• Madison Less (9/11, 9/25, 10/16)
• Taylor Pavlika (10/9)
• Karli Royer (9/25)
• Jill Vetere (10/2)
// UPCOMING ACTION
The Bearcats are set to travel to Orlando, Fla., this week as they will compete in the 2017 AAC Tournament as the third seed in the event hosted by UCF. UC will open with a 4:30 p.m. quarterfinal match against sixth-seeded SMU on Wednesday. The winner will advance to Friday's semifinal against second-seeded USF with the match kicking at 4:30 p.m. Both of those matches will be streamed live on the American Digital Network.
// FOLLOWING THE BEARCATS
GoBearcats.com is your one-stop destination for all things UC Athletics. Socially, the team can also be followed on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with all using the handle GoBearcatsWSOC. Head Coach Neil Stafford (@UCGaffer) also can be followed on Twitter.
Gilles started and played the full 90 as she earned her 81st career start, the 8th-most in program history. She helped limit ECU to eight total shots as the team recorded its 11th shutout of the season, the most of any team in the AAC. Her play also helped bring about several UC records, including the most home shutouts in a season (eight), the most wins in a home season (eight) and the most shutouts by a senior class at UC (27).
Less posted six saves on the night to help UC defeat ECU as the rookie keeper earned her sixth win of the season while posting her league-leading seventh shutout. As a team, UC now has 11 shutouts, just the sixth time in a single season UC has double-digit clean sheets while the 11 rank as the third-most in a single season. Her 0.63 goals-against average currently ranks as the fourth-best in the program's single-season history behind a trio of seniors.
Gorman scored the lone goal in the match against ECU to give the Bearcats third place in the American and help UC to an undefeated home record of 8-0-3 this year. Her goal was her team-leading sixth of the season and her third game-winner, which ties her for the team lead. Her game-winner also saw her both open the year and close the regular season with the game-winning goal in a 1-0 win as UC defeated Buffalo to open the 2017 season.
For the year, the Bearcats earned 19 weekly accolades from the conference. All told, the Bearcats grabbed nine major weekly awards this season, including six defensive player honors (four for Gilles and two for Kiki Lowell), two offensive player awards (Jaycie Brown and Julie Gavorski) and one goalkeeper honor (Less). With Gorman's selection this week, the Bearcats also added 10 Honor Roll awards as well.
Offensive Player of the Week
• Jaycie Brown (9/11)
• Julie Gavorski (9/4)
Defensive Player of the Week
• Vanessa Gilles (8/21, 8/28, 9/11, 10/30)
• Kiki Lowell (9/25, 10/2)
Goalkeeper of the Week
• Madison Less (10/30)
Honor Roll
• Julie Gavorski (8/28)
• Sophie Gorman (9/11, 10/16, 10/30)
• Madison Less (9/11, 9/25, 10/16)
• Taylor Pavlika (10/9)
• Karli Royer (9/25)
• Jill Vetere (10/2)
// UPCOMING ACTION
The Bearcats are set to travel to Orlando, Fla., this week as they will compete in the 2017 AAC Tournament as the third seed in the event hosted by UCF. UC will open with a 4:30 p.m. quarterfinal match against sixth-seeded SMU on Wednesday. The winner will advance to Friday's semifinal against second-seeded USF with the match kicking at 4:30 p.m. Both of those matches will be streamed live on the American Digital Network.
// FOLLOWING THE BEARCATS
GoBearcats.com is your one-stop destination for all things UC Athletics. Socially, the team can also be followed on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with all using the handle GoBearcatsWSOC. Head Coach Neil Stafford (@UCGaffer) also can be followed on Twitter.