RICHMOND, Va. – Following a three-goal, seven-point week, Monmouth women's soccer's Ashley Lavrich has been named the CAA's Offensive Player of the Week, while Saar van der Boom was designated the league's Rookie of the Week, the conference offices announced Monday morning.
Lavrich, who tallied two goals and an assist in Thursday's 3-0 shutout at Army before converting a 90th minute penalty in Sunday's 2-2 draw against FDU, is Monmouth's first offensive player of the week since Summer Reimet earned the honor on Sept. 8, 2025. It is also the first career OPOTW honor for the former CAA Rookie of the Year, who did earn three CAA Rookie of the Week nods in 2024.
In Thursday's match in West Point, N.Y., Lavrich opened the scoring midway through the opening period, finishing a cross with her right foot. The junior collected her brace in the early moments of the second half, blasting a penalty kick past Army's goalkeeper into the upper netting. She finished her career-high seven-point outing in the waning moments, recording the secondary assist on Maddie DeMaio's first-career goal.
Lavrich showed off her clutch gene on Sunday, tying the game in the dying moments for the Hawks. After FDU took a 2-1 lead in the 84th minute, Monmouth drew a penalty kick with just 37 seconds to play. The Birdsboro, Pa., native stepped up and calmly buried the program's first 90th minute game-tying goal since Kim Clemmer did it against Navy in 2011.
Through five games this season, Lavrich has four goals and nine points, both second-most in the CAA. The CAA Preseason Honorable Mention honoree has already surpassed her goal total of three from 2025.
Van der Boom collected her first three career points this weekend, contributing on two of the team's five goals in the past two games. In Thursday's win over Army, it was the freshman's left-footed cross that produced Lavrich's first-half goal, giving van der Boom the first assist of her young Monmouth tenure.
With Sunday's match against FDU scoreless through 65 minutes, the Rotterdam, Netherlands product took the ball from the outside, cut back to the middle and unleashed a right-footed dart into the right side of the net for the first goal of her career. Through five games this season, van der Boom has made five starts and is averaging 75 minutes per game, contributing to a defensive unit that has posted a pair of shutouts and limited opponents to just five goals.
The Hawks, who are unbeaten in their last three outings and are 2-1-2 on the season, will look to add another win on Thursday when St. John's comes to West Long Branch. Kickoff from Hesse Field on the Great Lawn is set for 2 p.m. on FloSports.
