Wisconsin junior Kinley McNicoll had a weekend to remember in the Pacific Northwest. Sure, the midfielder was instrumental in her team's success on the field, as the Badgers confirmed their status as serious Big Ten contenders with one of the program's most comprehensively impressive weekends in years.
But let's not put the cart before the horse. McNicoll also managed to make a pilgrimage to the original Starbucks.
We all have our priorities.
As much as the latter latte expedition is a life goal achieved for coffee fanatics, a group that apparently includes McNicoll, it's her role in the other stuff that earns her a place as espnW's national player of the week.
Opening Wisconsin's stay in Seattle for the Husky Nike Invitational against previously unbeaten Washington, McNicoll scored a goal on a wicked strike from well outside the 18-yard box and provided picture-perfect service for assists on two more goals, all in the second half, as the Badgers turned a close game into a 4-0 rout. Two days later, after her visit to Pike Place Market and its shrine to caffeine, she converted a penalty kick for her second goal of the weekend and helped Wisconsin control the action from the outset in a 3-0 win against No. 22 Portland.
The team's assist leader a season ago with 13 (a mark bettered by only six players nationally), McNicoll is off to another strong start with four assists in six games this season. But she's also scoring like never before, the weekend's two goals pushing her total to five for the season and within one of her career best at Wisconsin.
The win against the Pilots not only propelled Wisconsin to a 6-0-0 start to the season for the first time in a decade but also marked the program's first win against a team ranked in the NSCAA Top 25 since 2011 and its first win in five tries against the two-time national champions.
Few programs anywhere in the country can match the midfield assets Wisconsin has in sophomore Rose Lavelle, who started for the United States in the past summer's Under-20 World Cup, and McNicoll, who not only started but captained the Canadian team that reached the quarterfinals in the same event. Wisconsin coach Paula Wilkins apparently challenged both playmakers to perform at a higher level after a modest first half in Friday's game against the Huskies, and an attack that produced six goals in the next 135 minutes against quality competition speaks for itself.
Also considered this week:
Pamela Begic, MF, Florida
Brooke Elby, MF, North Carolina
Mckenzie Grossman, D, Arizona State
Emily Hurd, MF, Penn State
Katie Naughton, D, Notre Dame