Eastern senior Molly Hawkins was named the Ohio Valley Conference women’s soccer Offensive Player of the Week as announced by the conference Tuesday.

Hawkins helped her team pick up its first win of the season as she took part in all three goals against Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne Friday in the 3-0 win.

She scored two goals in the second half, including the opening goal of the game during the second half.

Hawkins then assisted on what was the game-winning goal by senior teammate Hannah Miller.

After not scoring a goal since 2013, Hawkins now has four goals and one assist on the season and leads the team with nine points.

Teammates junior Kalyn Pruett and freshman Kari Naerdemann from Tennessee Tech took home the other two awards announced by the OVC.

Pruett won Defensive Player of the Week after playing all 220 minutes in the Golden Eagles’ two games last week.

She also scored the Golden Eagles’ lone goal of the weekend against Georgia State. It was the first goal of her career.

Naerdemann made 10 saves and gave up just one goal last week in the two draws for Tennessee Tech. She picked up her first career shutout in the game against Mercer.

Currently, she leads the OVC with a .857 saves percentage.

The Panthers will be back in action Friday at 3 p.m. against Bowling Green at Lakeside Field.

Bob Reynolds can be reached at 581-2812 or rjreynolds@eiu.edu