Name: Mackenzie Harrison
Position: Forward
Year: Junior
Height: 5-foot-5
Hometown: Kaysville, Utah
High School: Davis High School
Weber State soccer forward Mackenzie Harrison is this week’s Signpost Athlete of the Week after recording two goals and an assist over the Wildcats’ last three games.
“With the injuries we’ve been dealing with, it’s been really difficult,” Harrison said. “So we have had to have a lot of people step up.”
Harrison has been a significant part of the Wildcats’ success so far this season, leading the team or tying for the team lead in every major offensive category. In the teams’ match against New Mexico last week, Harrison scored what would be the game-winning goal in the 34th minute. The game-winning goal was her second of the season, coming one week after her game-winning shot in overtime against Wyoming.
Against Hawaii on Friday, Harrison scored her team-high third goal of the season in the 71st minute of the game to tie the score and force overtime. Her three goals ties her for fourth-most in the Big Sky Conference this year with Paige Gallaway of Eastern Washington and Juliana Grover of University of Northern Colorado.
Harrison is also near the top of the Big Sky Conference leaderboards in other categories. She is currently second in the conference with 22 shots on the year, trailing only Idaho State’s Maria Sanchez who has recorded 24 shots. Harrison’s three goals and three assists give her a total of nine points on the year (two points per goal, one per assist), which is good enough for a third place tie with Northern Arizona’s Haley Windgender among conference leaders. And with three assists, Harrison is tied for the conference lead in assists with teammate Kendra Smith.
The Wildcats (3-4-0) will be on the road this weekend, as they travel to California to take on Loyola Marymount (4-1-1) on Friday, and California State University, Northridge (2-4-1) on Sunday.
Looking back at the losses to Hawaii and UTEP last weekend, Harrison said that the team didn’t play up to their standards, and that they need to turn it around for their upcoming games.
“We didn’t play the way we normally do, or can, play,” Harrison said. “We need to get more minutes of playing the way we know how to play.”