SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Western Carolina keeper Lauren Martin has been named the Southern Conference women’s soccer player of the week for all competition Oct. 19-25. The selection is made by the league office and is the final one of the 2015 season.

Martin posted a pair of shutouts on the week, blanking Chattanooga and Samford to help the Catamounts to their first SoCon weekend sweep of the season. The redshirt senior from Paxton, Mass., posted four saves in Western Carolina’s 2-0 win over Chattanooga on Friday and added three more against SoCon regular-season champion Samford on Sunday in a 1-0 win that snapped the Bulldogs’ nine-match winning streak.

Martin was instrumental in helping the Catamounts hand Samford its first league loss of the season, holding the Bulldogs, who lead the conference in points, goals and assists, without a goal for the first time since Sept. 13.

The win clinched a first-round bye for Western Carolina in the SoCon Women’s Soccer Championship, lifting the Catamounts into a tie for fifth in the league standings.

The award is the first of Martin’s career and the first for a WCU player since 2012.

Sixth-seeded Western Carolina (8-7-3, 4-4-1 SoCon) will head to Greensboro, N.C., for a quarterfinal showdown against No. 3 seed UNCG (8-8-3, 6-2-1) in SoCon tournament play on Saturday at 2 p.m. The semifinals and final of the SoCon Women’s Soccer Championship will be contested at Furman’s Eugene Stone III Soccer Stadium on Nov. 6 and 8, respectively.

Also nominated: Eleonora Goldoni (ETSU), Carlie Couch (Furman), Katelyn Dimopoulos (Mercer), Chesney White (UNCG), Malcanisha Kelley (Samford), Peyton McCollum (Chattanooga) and Carlyn Fralick (Wofford).

2015 SoCon Women’s Soccer Players of the Week
Aug. 25 Stephanie DeVita, Furman
Sept. 1 Malcanisha Kelley, Samford
Sept. 8 Maggie Cropp, Mercer
Sept. 15 Chloe Buehler, UNCG
Sept. 22 Samantha Hogan, Chattanooga
Sept. 29 Simona Koren, ETSU
Oct. 6 Taylor Borman, Samford
Oct. 13 Stephanie DeVita, Furman
Oct. 20 Caylin Prillaman, UNCG
Oct. 27 Lauren Martin, Western Carolina

-www.SoConSports.com-