Cullowhee, N.C. -- The Western Carolina women's soccer team is already running out of room on the shelf for its seasonal awards this fall as
Milla Syska was today named the Southern Conference Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season after posting a pair of goals in a 2-0-0 week for the Catamounts. She was joined by Wofford's Elizabeth Navola who was the Defensive Player of the Week.
The junior striker recorded a critical goal for the Catamounts early in their Thursday night bout with a red-hot Presbyterian team, finding the back of the cage in the 13th minute for what proved to be the game-winning goal against the Blue Hose, ending the night with four shots, three on-goal. She then added to her team-leading goal total in the Catamount's 4-0 victory over Winthrop, adding insurance in the 54th minute after capitalizing on an
Isabella DeMarco pass. Syska's insurance marker put the Purple and Gold up 3-0 in the second half as the Catamounts cruised to the senior day victory.
The Charlotte, N.C. product is only the fifth Catamount in the women's soccer team's 25-year history to collect more than one weekly accolade from the conference offices, joining Caitlin Williams (4x),
Naya Marcil (4x),
Becca Campbell (3x), and Shannon Fowkes (2x) in the honor. Syska is the first Catamount to earn more than one honor in the same season since Marcil and Campbell did season ago.
Syska's second honor of the year is the fourth for the Catamounts this season as
Kirsten Hahn (Week 1 OPOTW) and
Becca Campbell (Week 4 DPOTW) earned conference recognition already for their efforts in the young 2024 campaign. The four honors for the Catamounts through the first five weeks of 2024 are already the second most in a single season, behind only the six honors WCU collected last year. WCU has now recorded 29 Southern Conference Player of the Week honors, the fourth most in the conference and just ahead of former conference member Davidson's 28.
Syska and the Catamount strikers will look to keep the good times rolling as they open conference play with the Samford Bulldogs Thursday night at 7 p.m. Gates are set to open for the 2023 conference title rematch at 6 p.m., and the first 300 WCU students at the match and receive a ticket redeemable for a championship scarf. Students will then receive instructions on how to redeem said tickets , which will be distributed during the match courtesy of The Everson. To receive their scarf, the student must be present and show both their Cat Card and scarf ticket. The scarves are limited one per person.
