Wake Forest Athletics
Smart Named ACC Offensive Player of the Week
9/7/2021 11:32:00 AM | Women's Soccer
It is the first ACC Offensive Player of the Week honor for the Deacs since Bailey Feist on October 17, 2017.
GREENSBORO, N.C. —Wake Forest's Shayla Smart was named the ACC Offensive Player of the Week, the league announced Tuesday.
The senior forward from Apopka, Florida earned the award after her hat-trick performance in Wake Forest's fifth consecutive shutout victory over Loyola-Maryland on Sept. 2. It was the first hat-trick earned by a Demon Deacon since Maddie Huster scored three against Florida International in 2016.
This is the first ACC Offensive Player of the Week nod for the Demon Deacons this season, and first since Bailey Feist on October 17, 2017.
The Deacs had three defensive weekly conference honors during the 2020-21 season when Kaitlyn Parks became the first player in ACC history to be announced as the Defensive Player of the Week in consecutive weeks.
Smart bagged the first hat-trick of her collegiate campaign. She now has six goals on the season, tying her for the most in the ACC and second most in the country. The senior started the scoring in the 10th minute as she rounded the Loyola goalkeeper and finished into an empty net. Nikayla Small recorded her second assist of the season.
Smart collected the brace a minute later off senior Hulda Arnarsdottir's dish which Smart finished with the curling shot into the right-hand corner of the net.
In the 57th minute, Small provided another perfect ball for Smart. She decisively punched in the hat trick into the bottom corner.
Up next, the Demon Deacons return home for three-straight, hosting Coastal Carolina on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the first match of the three-game stretch. The match will be broadcasted on ACCNX.
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