Published: November 02, 2009 11:36 pm      

Zak awarded SLC honor

Bearkat freshman posts second hat trick of season

Sam Houston Sate freshman Kirby Zak has been named as Southland Conference Women’s Soccer Offensive Player of the Week for the final weekend of the 2009 regular season.

Zak posted her second hat trick of the season and assisted on the Kats’ fourth goal in the match to lead Sam Houston to a 4-2 victory over Central Arkansas on Friday.

The victory clinched a Southland Conference tournament berth for the Bearkats, the third in the program’s seven-year history.

The win also earned Sam Houston a fourth-place finish in the final regular season standings, the best league standing ever for the Bearkats.

Zak’s hat trick was the 17th in program history, but only the third by a Sam Houston player against a Southland opponent. Zak is the leading scorer for the Bearkats this season with nine goals.

As the No. 4 seed, Sam Houston will take on No. 5 seed Texas-San Antonio in the first round of the Southland Conference tournament Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Demon Soccer Complex in Natchitoches, La. Should the Bearkats win, they will face No. 1 seed Texas State in the semifinals Friday night at 7 p.m.

The tournament finals will be Sunday at 1 p.m. and will be televised by the Southland Conference TV Network to a three-state regional audience. All other rounds of the tournament will be streamed live on www.gobearkats.com.

Southeastern Louisiana’s Dana Mayer earned Defensive Player of the Week honors and Lacey Bockhaus of Southeastern Louisiana was the Goalkeeper of the Week honoree.