SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento State junior defender Dalen Lau was named the Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Week on Tuesday after helping the Hornets to an unbeaten start in league play last week.

It is the first career weekly honor from the league office for the Honolulu, Hawai'i, native and the third defensive weekly award for Sacramento State this season after goalkeeper Izzy Palmatier was feted twice on Aug. 26 and Sept. 16.

Lau played all 180 minutes in the Hornets' Big Sky openers at Northern Colorado and at home against Northern Arizona. The two performances extended her run to five straight matches in which she has gone the distance and marked the nine and 10th times in the team's 12 contests that she has played a full 90.

The junior opened the week by spearheading a defense that shut out the Bears on the road as the Hornets scored in the final three minutes for a 1-0 win. It was the team's fourth shutout of the season while the defense withstood a barrage of 17 shots — but allowed only four shots on frame. Individually, Lau was charged with marking UNC's leading scorer Lexi Tuite to just two shot attempts.

Three days later, Lau and the defense surrendered only five shots on goal for the match, but limited the Lumberjacks to just two second-half shot attempts overall, scoring in the final 10 minutes to forge a 1-1 draw. NAU's lone score came on a penalty in the 54th minute, but did not have a shot in the final 30 minutes of regulation.

Sacramento State closes out a run of three straight at home this week, hosting Idaho on Thursday (Oct. 2) at 3 p.m., before welcoming Eastern Washington on Sunday (Oct. 5) for a 1 p.m. kick-off.