FEMALE - Melanie Oberholzer, Women's Soccer (Goalkeeper / First Year / Social Sciences - Criminology / Kitchener, Ont.)
With three shutouts in two wins and a tie this week, Melanie Oberholzer has helped to lift her Western Mustangs women's soccer team into a home playoff hosting position.
Beginning with a shutout in Western's scoreless draw with Laurier on Wednesday night, Oberholzer carried her strong play into a two-game homestand, back-stopping the Mustangs to 1-0 and 2-0 victories over McMaster and Guelph.
In Saturday's 1-0 over McMaster, Oberholzer made eight saves, including an acrobatic save in the final five mintues to stop a Marauders header off a corner with cat-like reflexes.
The freshman keeper also kicked the ball effectively to set up the Mustangs counterattack and slid out in all three games with sound decisions on challenges.
With 16 saves on weekend, and another seven on Wednesday in a 0-0 draw with Laurier, she was fantastic with a 23-save week.
Maria DelGuercio, Western's goalkeeper coach, said Oberholzer's awareness has really improved through the season. "This week she played outstanding," DelGuercio said. "She stays calm in very stressful situations, and she has made some great saves, especially stopping shots that could have impacted the game for the opposing team. She is a solid wall back there and wasn't scared to come out for the ball and challenge their forwards, even get physical with them."
"She has really stepped up her game since we threw her into the lineup as the starting keeper just last week," DelGuercio added. "She is very focused and is always willing to take constructive comments and learn from them."
"Overall Mel is a great keeper to train, and takes what she learns and uses it in the game," DelGuercio said. "This past weekend she was one of many to help us grab two wins and a much needed 6 points."
The coaching praise did not stop there.
"Mel's kicks, both goal kicks and drop kicks, helped set us up offensively and that is something that we have been needing over the last few years," said assistant coach Sarah Reagan. "She is very composed and is always an option for the defenders to play to. She is able to kick well with both feet and has stepped up and made some great, game-saving saves over the last three games."
"Even though she does have two outstanding defenders in front of her with Sarah Ogle and Christina Fric that make her job a bit easier, she still comes up big when she needs to."
