Malone University women's soccer players Kirsten Hilty and Haleigh Seman have been named the Great Midwest Athletic Conference's Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week after leading the Pioneers to a pair of huge victories last week.

The freshmen duo helped Malone clinch a Great Midwest Athletic Conference Tournament spot on Tuesday with a 3-1 victory in its regular-season finale against Ursuline College. Hilty and Seman then played key roles on Saturday as the Pioneers picked up their first postseason win since 2006 with a 2-1 overtime triumph at Cedarville University in the quarterfinal round of the G-MAC Tournament.

Hilty, the Offensive Player of the Week, scored three goals in the two games. After the Pioneers fell behind Ursuline 1-0, Hilty sparked Malone by scoring the tying goal just two minutes into the second half. Ten minutes later, she scored the go-ahead goal for the Pioneers, giving the team a 2-1 lead. Hilty would provide the spark again in the postseason match on Saturday at Cedarville, breaking the 0-0 tie in the 20th minute with her fifth goal of the season.

Seman was named the G-MAC Defensive Player of the Week for her work protecting the Pioneer goal. The Green High School graduate had six saves between the two games and allowed just one goal in each contest. Her 0.91 goals against average is the second best in the conference on the year.
 
With Saturday's victory, the Pioneers earned a spot in the G-MAC Semifinals which will be hosted by top-seeded Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tennessee.  Malone, the tournament's No. 6 seed, will face second-seeded Ursuline this Thursday, November 3rd at 5:00 p.m. CDT (6:00 p.m. EDT).  The other semifinal features Trevecca Nazarene vs. Davis & Elkins College.  With a win over the Arrows, the Pioneers will move on the G-MAC Championship Match which will be held on Saturday afternoon in Nashville.

Additional information about the G-MAC Tournament can be found at http://www.g-macsports.com/sports/2016/7/14/1617_wsoc_champ.aspx?path=wsoc