MERCED, Calif. – University of California, Merced women's soccer freshman Zamaya Rivera was named the FloCollege/CCAA Women's Soccer Offensive Player of the Week on Tuesday afternoon.
Rivera is UC Merced's first ever freshman across all sports to win a CCAA weekly honor and she is UC Merced women's soccer's first freshman Bella Spiva in 2019 to win any weekly accolade. Also of note, Rivera is the first CCAA freshman to be named the offensive player of the week this year.
Four different UC Merced women's soccer players have now won a FloCollege/CCAA Women's Soccer Offensive Player of the Week award this season. Rivera joins senior Jocelin Roa and juniors Alexia Alva and Andrea Alvarenga Torres. Since the CCAA began naming both an offensive and defensive player of the week at the start of the 2022 season, no school has had ever four different players recognized as the offensive player of the week until UC Merced.
Rivera scored three goals last week to lead the Bobcats to two critical wins, keeping the Bobcats in control of their own postseason fate with one more game to go.
The Hollister, Calif., native started her week with her second brace of the year in the Bobcats 3-0 win over Menlo, including scoring the game-winning goal in the 48th minute from the top of the goal area. She headed in an Andrea Alvarenga Torres corner kick seven minutes later.
In the process, Rivera became the Bobcats first freshman since Jenn Salinger in 2017 with two or more multi-goal games.
Rivera found the back of the net again in the 2-0 win over Cal State San Marcos in the 62nd minute after outracing the defense and burying her shot from the left side of the box into the far corner of the net.
She came off the bench in both games to deliver the Bobcats offensive firepower. She scored her three goals on eight shots, putting five shots on frame.
The freshman is now tied for fifth in the CCAA with five goals this season. Her five goals are the most by a Bobcat freshman since Hannah DeLay and Kaeley Cariglio in 2022.
Rivera and the Bobcats will host San Francisco State in the regular season finale on Thursday, October 29. UC Merced officially clinches a spot in the CCAA Tournament with a win, or a loss or a draw from either Cal State Monterey Bay or Stanislaus State. First touch is scheduled for 11:00am on Bobcat Field.
