By: Jeff Evans, Assistant AD for Athletic Communications
BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Western Washington University senior midfielder
Mie Cairns was selected the GNAC Defensive Player of the Week for her contributions in a pair of victories in conference play last week.
The senior captain was a versatile weapon in the Vikings 1-0 road win at Northwest Nazarene on Thursday assisting on the game-winning goal and played the full 90 minutes in the 2-0 shutout victory over No. 24 nationally ranked Simon Fraser on Saturday. Cairns scored the insurance goal in the second half to lift the No. 9 Vikings to the victory extending the winning streak to six consecutive games and unbeaten streak to 11 straight (8-0-3).
This marks Cairns first career GNAC Player of the Week award, with the Sammamish native appearing in 78 career games. Cairns is a two-time First Team All-GNAC selection and in 13 games this season has contributed on five goals with four assists and the second-half goal Saturday vs. SFU. She is among the GNAC leaders with 1,012 minutes played and has been a key factor in the Vikings defense registering nine shutouts and a .308 goals against average to rank in the top 10 nationally.
"Mie covered a lot of ground in our games last weekend. She was involved in so many critical defensive stops while also being involved in goals in both games. She had a huge impact on our results," said WWU head coach
Travis Connell.
Cairns becomes the fourth Viking to earn a GNAC weekly award this season, joining junior forward
Audrey Holdridge (Aug. 24-30), freshman defender
Blake Francis (Sept. 21-27) and freshman forward
Madeline Mays (Sept. 21-27).
The first-place Vikings (9-1-3 overall, 7-0-1 GNAC) close out the home portion of their schedule this week hosting Saint Martin's on Thursday (7 pm) and Western Oregon on Saturday (2 pm) at Harrington Field. Saturday's game will celebrate Western's upcoming graduate class with a pregame ceremony.
WWU entered last week ranked No. 9 nationally in the United Soccer Coaches Poll and announced Monday as the No. 1 team in the
NCAA II West Region NPI Rankings.
