Cynthia Sanchez Earns Second Big West Offensive Player of the Week Award

NORTHRIDGE, CA---

CSUN Women's Soccer sophomore Cynthia Sanchez earned her second Big West Offensive Player of the Week award in three weeks after helping lead the Matadors to a 4-3 comeback victory on Sunday at San Jose State, the league office announced Monday. Sanchez recorded five points against the Spartans including hitting the tying and go-ahead goals in the second half. Her team-leading eighth goal was her fourth game-winner of the season.

"For me it's an honor, but it wouldn't be possible without my teammates," said Sanchez about winning Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season. "The goals I scored were a team effort. This award is not only a reward for me but for the team."

A sophomore from Gilroy, CA, Sanchez has posted career highs in goals (8), assists (2) and points (18) through 10 matches.

Sanchez helped CSUN erase two separate San Jose State leads including a 2-0 deficit at the half. Sanchez assisted Ariana Tran on the Matadors' first goal that trimmed the Spartan lead to 2-1 in the 54^th minute.

After Kendall Moskal squared the game at 2-2 on a penalty kick six minutes later, the Spartans would regain the lead at 3-2 in the 65^th minute.

Acting as a facilitator earlier in the match, Sanchez went to work offensively to lead the comeback charge. With less than 16 minutes to go in the contest, Sanchez scored off a give-and-go with Destinney Duron from the right wing to tie the match at 3-3. In the 80^th minute, the forward struck again, hitting the back of the net off a rebound to give CSUN its first lead at 4-3, which proved to be the game winner.

"Sunday's win was a team effort," said Sanchez. "We picked each other up after trailing 2-0 at the half. The two goals I scored wouldn't have happened without Ariana's goal and Kendall's penalty kick. Those two goals gave us the confidence to come back and earn the victory."

"The crazy thing is that she may not have had her best game, but she came up big for us at the end," said head coach Keith West. "When you have a great player, they step up big and play well in big situations. She worked hard this past summer and she put herself in a position to play well this season. She is such a good person that everybody is happy for her. I am very happy for her success."

Sanchez recorded a career high in points in the victory and she tallied her second brace of the season. On Sept. 4, Sanchez recorded her first career two-goal performance in a 2-1 win at Fresno State.

In the Big West Conference, Sanchez is tied with Rebecca Wilson (Cal State Fullerton) for the most goals in the conference. Also, Sanchez is tied for ninth in the country with her eight goals.

For her career, Sanchez is second in school history for the most goals in a season. She only trails Farryn Townley (2009), Kristy Krohn (2005) and Brianna Monka (2005) who each had nine-goal campaigns for the Matadors.

In just 34 matches played in her career, Sanchez has already tallied 11 goals, placing her tied for ninth place with Melissa Cleal (1999-2002) in the CSUN record books. Sanchez is also four points shy of cracking the top 10 in points scored.

Sanchez received Big West Offensive Player of the Week honors on Sept. 7 after helping lead CSUN to victories over Fresno State and Detroit. She becomes the first Matador to earn a player of the week award multiple times in a season since Cynthia Jacobo received the award on three occasions during the 2012 season.

The Matadors complete their non-conference schedule this week. Friday, CSUN travels to face San Diego at 5 p.m. and on Sunday the Matadors welcome in nationally-ranked Texas Tech to Matador Soccer Field for a 1 p.m. match.

Cynthia Sanchez Earns Second Big West Offensive Player of the Week Award

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Destinney Duron

Kendall Moskal

Cynthia Sanchez

Ariana Tran

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