Iritxity Irigoyen Honored as BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week
3/1/2021 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
Liberty freshman goalkeeper Azul Iritxity Irigoyen has been honored as the BIG EAST Defensive of the Week, it was announced by the conference on Monday afternoon.
Additionally, sophomore forward Daniella Rhodes received BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll recognition.
This is Iritxity Irigoyen's first career BIG EAST accolade. The first-year netminder from Buenos Aires, Argentina recorded her first career shutout in Liberty's 2-0 win at Temple, Saturday.
Iritxity Irigoyen made a career-high six saves in the contest. In four appearances (two starts) this spring, she is 3-0 with a .818 save percentage, 0.80 goals-against-average and nine saves.
This is Rhodes' first BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll recognition of the season. The sophomore earned NFHCA Division I Offensive Player of the Week (Feb. 17) and BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week (Feb. 15) honors earlier in the season. Rhodes scored two goals in the Lady Flames' pair of 2-0 victories at Temple, this past Saturday and Sunday.
Rhodes scored on a penalty corner in the 40th minute of Saturday's game, her 20th career goal. On Sunday, Rhodes scored late in the fourth quarter (58:46), her eighth goal of the season, on a feed from Jill Bolton to seal the 2-0 Liberty triumph.
Iritxity Irigoyen, Rhodes and unbeaten Liberty (5-0, 4-0 BIG EAST) will square off with Old Dominion (4-1, 4-0 BIG EAST) in a battle of 4-0 BIG EAST teams, this weekend at the Liberty Field Hockey Field. Saturday's game will commence at noon, with Sunday's contest is set for a 1 p.m. start.
