RUSSELLVILLE, Arkansas – Ouachita's Sophia Valencia has been selected as the Great American Conference Women's Soccer Defender of the Week after leading the Tigers to a pair of shutouts and keeping the team in first place in the league standings.

Valencia, a junior from Lawton, Oklahoma, becomes Ouachita's 10th GAC player of the week for women's soccer this season. It her first award of the season and second of her career.

In Ouachita's games against Harding and East Central over the past week, Valencia helped the Tigers keep both opponents out of the net in a scoreless draw in Searcy against the Bisons and then a 2-0 win at home over the orange Tigers of ECU.

In the draw against Harding, Valencia played 64 minutes. Against ECU, she was on the field for 79 minutes. Her efforts, along with the rest of the defense, helped the Tigers capture their sixth and seventh shutouts of the season.

Ouachita is 7-1-5 overall and 4-1-2 in GAC games this year. The Tigers are back in action this week at Northwestern Oklahoma State on Wednesday and then at home on Saturday against Southwestern Oklahoma State.