Week VIII produced it’s first conference champion of the United Women’s Soccer season as the Houston Aces powered through their competition to take the Southwest regular season crown with two matches to spare.

Expansion side Lansing United clinched the Midwest regular season crown and will host their conference tournament while the races in the East and West are building up to an exciting finish.

The LA Galaxy OC Women surged up the table in the West and sit in second place with two weeks to play. A large part of that is due to the recent form of Angelina Hix, who scored three goals and assisted on two more in a weekend home-and-home sweep over So Cal Crush FC, earning her the UWS Offensive Player of the Week award.

The Inferno Rush posted back-to-back clean sheets in Week VIII action, due in large part to the consistent play of Ashley Chilcoat, as the defender logged a pair of 90-minute efforts to steady the back line. She secured the UWS defensive player of the week award, making her the second Inferno player to win the award as goalkeeper Kelly O’Brien earned in Week V.

UWS team of the week

GK Kelsey Daugherty (Long Island Rough Riders) – Came up with a pair of highlight reel saves to preserve a 3-2 victory over New England Mutiny

D Shauna Peare (Houston Aces) – Instrumental in the Aces back line, helped the team to a pair of clean sheets on the weekend

D Tori Martyn (Calgary Foothills Women’s FC) – Scored an 89th minute equalizer in a comeback 2-2 draw against Santa Clarita*

D Ashley Chilcoat (Inferno Rush) – Posted a pair of 90-minute efforts in helping her team to post two shutouts in a key weekend

M Sabrina Flores (LA Galaxy OC Women) – Notched three assists across two games against So Cal Crush*

M Teresa Rook (Rynier) (Inferno Rush) – Scored two goals and assisted on four others over two matches

M Ashlyn Skidmore (Genesee FC) – Led her side to their first win of the season, scoring two goals and assisting on another over Fort Wayne

M Dani Evans (Detroit Sun FC) – Another steady performance by the veteran and set up the game-tying goal against Michigan*

F Angelina Hix (LA Galaxy OC Women) – Paced the LAGOC offense with three goals and two assists in the weekend sweep over So Cal Crush

F Jenna Menta (New York Surf) – Capped off New York’s comeback at Connecticut with an 82nd minute equalizer and netted the game-winner in the 84th minute

F Corey Sawall (Lansing United) – Scored a 1st half brace against Genesee FC to clinch the Midwest Conference regular season crown for Lansing United

Honorable mention

D Alexia Salas (North Texas Image) – Guided the Image to a clean sheet over El Paso, playing the full 90

M Evdokia Popadinova (Santa Clarita Blue Heat) – Strong performance in the midfield in a 2-2 draw at Calgary

F Tori Baliatico (New Jersey Copa FC) – Notched a pair of goal in an early week matchup against Long Island

F Jennifer Borawski (Michigan Legends) – Team leader in goals came through with a tally against Detroit Sun

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Ashley Chilcoat (Inferno Rush)

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Angelina Hix (LA Galaxy OC Women)

* – indicates second appearance on the UWS team of the week

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.