UHV’s Alva, Nichols sweep RRAC weekly honors

UHV’s Hayli Nichols punts the ball out of her box during a game against LSU Alexandria at The Cage in 2023. (Sam Fowler/UHV Athletics)

September 2, 2024

WACO – The Red River Athletic Conference announced its second round of weekly awards for
women's soccer on Monday.
UHV's Arantza Alva and Hayli Nichols swept the Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week
honors, respectively. They are the first Jaguars to receive weekly honors this year.
Nichols, a senior goalkeeper from Forney, preserved a clean sheet with a pair of saves in the
Jaguars' 1-0 win over Nelson University on Thursday, Aug. 29. It was her third career clean sheet
since joining UHV (1-0) last year.
"Hayli made some key saves to preserve the win for us against Nelson," said head coach Adrian
Rigby. "She's a leader in the back and organized her team in front of her very well."
Alva provided the decisive goal in the win over Nelson with a strike in the 37th minute thanks to an assist from Yesenia Vega. It was just the second career goal for the sophomore from McAllen.
"Arantza made the most of her minutes and scored a timely goal to get us the win," Rigby said. "Our
staff hopes this honor will propel her into a bigger role with our squad moving forward."
This is the first time UHV has swept the women's soccer weekly honors since Nov. 4, 2018 when
Jurnee Fernandez and Amanda Bautista were recognized by the conference.
The Jaguars return to play with a road trip to the Texas Panhandle to face Wayland Baptist University at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 7.