SoCon Names Women's Soccer Players of the Week

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Mercer midfielder Payton Nutzman and Samford goalkeeper Peyton Hull were named the Southern Conference's women's soccer offensive and defensive players of the week, respectively, for competition from Aug. 12-17.

Nutzman led Mercer to two road wins in the Bears' opening week of the season. In the season opener against Jackson State on Aug. 12, the sophomore entered in the 31st minute and scored just a minute later on a penalty kick for the game's first goal. The Greenville, South Carolina, native struck again in the 42nd minute off a pass from teammate Isabella DeSantis, which stood as the game-winner in a 2-1 victory. She followed that up with 55 minutes played in a 1-0 win over West Georgia on Aug. 16. The two games marked Nutzman's first competitive action in 10 months after an injury ended her freshman season last October.

Hull played all 180 minutes in net for Samford last week. The Bulldogs opened their season with a scoreless draw at No. 2 Notre Dame on Aug. 12, where the redshirt junior recorded eight saves in a return to her hometown of South Bend, Indiana. Four days later, she made three saves as Samford defeated Belmont 2-0 in its home opener.

Mercer travels to Maine on Thursday before returning home for its home opener against South Carolina State on Sunday. Samford hosts Georgia State on Thursday and travels to South Alabama on Sunday.

Also nominated for offensive player of the week were Laney Smith (UNCG), Martha Bishop (Samford), Quinn Johnson (Chattanooga), Halle Bibee (Tennessee Tech), Gabriela Vatrano (Western Carolina) and Satya Tarafdar (Wofford).

Also nominated for defensive player of the week were Caroline Ekern (Chattanooga), Laila McNamee (Tennessee Tech) and Elizabeth Navola (Wofford).

2026 SoCon Women's Soccer Players of the Week

Offensive: Aug. 18 — Payton Nutzman, sophomore, midfielder, Mercer
Defensive: Aug. 18 — Peyton Hull, junior, goalkeeper, Samford

now this one: Amaral and Sythe Earn ACC Player of the Week Honors The combined work of the Wake Forest backline and Amaral in net led the Deacs to consecutive shutout victories to open the 2026 campaign.

CHARLOTTE – After opening the season with two dominant wins over SEC opponents, redshirt-juniors Sierra Sythe and Valentina Amaral have been named ACC Defensive Player of the Week and ACC Co-Goalkeeper of the Week, as announced by the league office on Tuesday.

This marks the first weekly nod for Sythe, and second for Amaral in the last two years. Both players played a crucial role in the victories against LSU and South Carolina this past week. Amaral logged five saves in the opening night match against the Tigers, and one this past Sunday versus the Gamecocks.

Meanwhile, Sythe was a member of the backline that allowed just five shots and one on target attempt against South Carolina. Wednesday and Sunday marked Amaral’s 14th and 15th career shutouts, and 24th and 25th wins.

Valentina Amaral

• Starting keeper for the 2024 College Cup National Finalist Team

• Called up to the U.S. U20 Women’s National Team training camp in June

• Finished the 2024 season with the best goals-against average in program history at 0.69

• Allowed the fewest number of goals in conference play with seven

  • Totaled five shutouts in ACC play, second most in the conference

• Recorded back-to-back clean sheet victories against No. 1 Stanford and No. 2 Virginia

• Played a vital role during the team’s 2024 postseason run, logging three shutouts and holding strong during the penalty shootout that would send the Deacs to the 2024 College Cup finals.

• As a freshman, did not allow a goal all season and the team was a perfect 3-0 in games she appeared in

  • Recorded a shutout in her collegiate debut

• 2025 All-ACC Third Team and All-American Third Team

• Finished second in the ACC in 2025 with 81 saves and fourth in the conference with a .794 save percentage

• Tallied six clean sheets as a redshirt-sophomore

Sierra Sythe

• Multiple call ups to the USYNT U-23 team

• Helped the Deacs to one of the best defensive records in the nation in 2024

• Started all 20 matches in 2025, totaling the most minutes of any outfield player

• Broke into the record book with nine assists and wrapped the previous year sixth among the program for most assists in a single season

• Finished second on the team with 15 points

  • Recorded three goals across her appearances.

• Named No. 40 on TopDrawerSoccer Midseason Rankings in 2025