SAN RAMON, Calif. – San Diego State women’s soccer forward Victoria Miller was named the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week, the league announced Tuesday afternoon.
Miller started both matches for SDSU (8-3-2, 2-1-1 Pac-12) in a 1-0-1 week for the Aztecs, playing a total of 142 minutes. Between the two matches, she took seven shots with three on goal.
A junior, Miller lifted the Aztecs to a 3-1 victory over Colorado State on Sunday, scoring all three goals for the Scarlet and Black for a hat trick. The three goals were separated by a total of just 5:01. In the 62nd minute, Alexis Leath dribbled into the box and passed to KK Chowana-Bandhu, who redirected the ball to Miller. She fired into the left side of the goal to tie the match at one. Two minutes later, a CSU handball in the box set up a penalty kick, which Miller converted past a diving keeper to put the Aztecs on top 2-1. Three minutes afterwards, Karoline Lundstrom passed to Miller who shot the ball into the left side of the goal once again just before a diving defender could knock the ball away.
Miller recorded the 13th hat trick in program history, becoming just the 12th different player to do so. She also became the first Aztec with a hat trick since the 2020 season, which was played in the spring of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That year, both Rachelle Elve and Veronica Avalos had hat tricks despite a shortened 11-match season. The last time before Miller that an SDSU player scored three goals in a match at home was Aliyah Utush on November 4, 2017, against New Mexico.
The Novi, Michigan native is the third Aztec to win a weekly award this season following Kailey Carlen’s Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week award on August 18 for her four-save shutout in the season-opening win at UC San Diego, and Chowana-Bandhu’s Newcomer of the Week on September 22 following two goals in two matches by the freshman. Last season, SDSU won four conference weekly awards.
The Aztecs resume Pac-12 play on the road at Washington State on Thursday, October 22, at 4 p.m. Admission to all home matches is free and all remaining matches will be broadcast on the Pac-12 YouTube page.