Cullowhee, N.C. – Isabella Demarco continues to impress her conference peers as the reigning Southern Conference Player of the Year and 2024 Preseason Offensive Player of the Year was today named the SoCon Offensive Player of the Week after a four-point effort against the Wofford Terriers last Sunday afternoon in WCU's seventh straight victory.
A first-team All-SoCon selection as a freshman in 2022, the top offensive player in August of 2023, and last year's SoCon Player of the Year, today's weekly accolade is ironically just the first for DeMarco in an already tremendously successful career.
DeMarco was joined in the weekly spotlight by Furman's Reese Dejong who claimed weekly defensive honors.
DeMarco is the sixth different Catamount to earn a combined seven SoCon weekly awards this season. She joins Kirsten Hahn (Week 1, Offense), Milla Syska (Week 3 and Week 5, Offense), Becca Campbell (Week 4, Defense), Leanne Trudel (Week 6, Defense), and Naya Marcil (Week 8, Offense) to have collected honors this season.
WCU's seven weekly honors broke the program record for a single season established last season with weekly plaudits six times. WCU has a total of 32 player of the week honors all-time – the fourth most by a team in the SoCon – with 13 of those awards coming between the last two seasons. The Purple and Gold have four more matches remaining in the regular season and two more weeks to add to their total this year.
DeMarco notched her fourth career multi-goal effort (two braces, two hat tricks) in the 6-1 road rout over the Wofford Terriers. The junior striker took only two shots in the match but capitalized on both of her scoring opportunities. Her first shot put the Catamounts up 1-0 in the third minute of the match, before she tallied her second goal of the day – and fifth of the season – in the 12th minute to give the Catamounts a 2-0 lead. DeMarco's second goal ultimately became her first game-winning goal of the season and the third in her career.
A key member of a dynamic Catamount scoring trio, the Charlotte, N.C. product is currently tied with Naya Marcil for the second-most points on the team with 16 coming on five goals and six assists. She trails only breakout star Milla Syska who has recorded 22 points on 10 goals with a pair of assists. The Purple and Gold triumvirate holds the second, fourth, and fifth spots on the SoCon scoring leaderboards this season and is joined by Kirsten Hahn's 15 points as the sixth-most in the conference.
Isabella DeMarco and the Catamounts will be back in action Thursday night as they host mountain-rival ETSU for the annual Black Out / "Beat the Bucs" match at the on-campus Catamount Athletics Complex. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. The Catamounts then finish out the 2024 regular season with a three-game road swing, heading to UNCG (tied for 3rd), Furman (tied for 3rd), and Chattanooga (sixth place) before the SoCon Women's Soccer Championship that runs Oct. 29 through Nov. 10.
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