WINTHROP, Mass. – After scoring five goals to lead Regis College to league victories over Colby-Sawyer College and Emmanuel College, senior Miya Nishibun (Honolulu, Hawaii) has been named the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Women's Soccer Player of the Week, announced Monday afternoon by the conference office.
Last Wednesday at Colby-Sawyer, Nishibun quickly put the Pride on top with a goal 1:09 into the contest. In the second half, she collected her second goal of the match in the 63rd minute and then converted on a penalty kick opportunity just over five minutes later to complete her second hat trick of the season.
Saturday against Emmanuel, she earned her first goal of the day in the 11th minute when she curved a corner kick over the goal line. A little more than six minutes later, Nishibun gathered the ball in the Pride offensive zone and sent a shot into the net to give the Pride a 2-0 advantage.
Nishibun is tied for second in the GNAC in both goals with eight and points with 17, plus she is ninth in Division III in goals per game at 1.33. Her hat trick against Dean College Sept. 11 was the first by a Pride player in almost five full years, and it has been nine years since there have been two hat tricks by Regis in a single season, although in 2012 it was two different players with one hat trick apiece.
This is the first GNAC weekly award for the women's soccer team since Aria Ulmer was named Rookie of the Week Sept. 16, 2019. Nishibun becomes the first Pride women's soccer player to receive GNAC Player of the Week honors since Regis joined the league in 2017.
Regis College (4-2, 3-1 GNAC) travels to Paxton, Mass., to face Anna Maria College Wednesday, Sept. 29, starting at 7 p.m. The Pride then return home to take on Norwich University Saturday, Oct. 2, beginning at 2:30 p.m.