Catchur nabs first Heart Offensive Player of the Week honor of 2023

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Just three games into their 2023 season, the Clarke University women's soccer team will already walk away with an individual weekly award as senior Shannon Catchur earned the Offensive Player of the Week in the Heart of America Athletic Conference, the conference announced on Monday.

The Valparaiso, Ind. native notched her first goals of the season last week with the lone goal in the 1-1 draw at Viterbo University then with a two-goal performance in a 3-1 win at home against Judson University.

Her goal against the V-Hawks last Tuesday came in the 57th minute during the second half as she was able to finish off of a nice feed from her sister Morgan Catchur to give the Pride a 1-0 lead at the time. Then this past Saturday agianst the Eagles, Catchur once again opened the scoring with a header goal in just the fifth minute of the game where CU would lead 1-0 into halftime before JU tied the score but Clarke would earn a penalty kick in the 79th minute where Catchur bury the game winner to give the Pride the lead for the remainder of the game.

With this selection, Catchur earns her first Offensive Player of the Week selection in the Heart coming off of back-to-back All-Heart Second Team honors and a 2022 season where she recorded a career-high 10 goals. Her three goals through three games matches her sophomore season pace where she scored a goal in her first three games of the season in 2021 while this also marks the third time in her career where she's scored three or more goals in a two-game span as she did so twice in 2022.

Clarke women's soccer will be on the road for the next game this week when they travel to Palos Heights, Ill. to take on Trinity Christian College on Thursday for a 5:00 p.m. CT start against the Trolls.