SACRAMENTO — For the second consecutive week, the Big Sky Conference's women's soccer defensive player of the week resides in Sacramento.
Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Izzy Palmatier was named the league's defensive player of the week for the first time in her career on Tuesday after helping the Hornets pick up points on the road against Weber State and Idaho State last weekend.
Following in the footsteps of teammate Erika Tilford, who won her first career award on Oct. 10, Palmatier allowed only one goal while facing a barrage of 38 shots in starts against the Wildcats and Bengals, posting a total of 16 saves.
The Folsom, Calif., native opened her weekend with a busy night in net against Weber State, making five stops in each half en route to a career-high 10 saves in a scoreless draw with the Wildcats. The total surpassed her previous best of nine saves at Hawai'i back on Aug. 24 and were the most by a Hornet goalkeeper since teammate Mia Shalit finished with 11 in last year's regular season finale at Northern Arizona on Oct. 21, 2022.
Palmatier's clean sheet was also her fourth shutout of the year, giving her the most in a single season since Aaliyah Fesili finished with 10 during the 2019 campaign.
Two days later, Palmatier finished with six more stops — all in the first half — in a 1-1 draw with Idaho State, which unleashed a total of 21 shots against the Sacramento State defense, but only seven on frame.
Since the start of Big Sky play, Palmatier has allowed only three goals and posted a 0.60 goals against average in five matches, making a total of 29 saves for a .906 save percentage. Overall, she enters the week ranked third in the conference in saves (60), second in saves per game (4.62), and fourth in both save percentage (.769) and goals against average (1.46).
Entering the week in the thick of the race for one of six Big Sky Tournament spots, the Hornets travel to Montana on Thursday (Oct. 19) in a 2 p.m. PT kick-off for their regular season finale. Montana stands atop the table with 16 points while Sacramento State stands fifth with nine points — one point clear of sixth-place Idaho State for the final playoff spot and five points ahead of Weber State.
