ST. LOUIS – Junior Alyssa Brand (Skokie, Ill.) of the Drake University women's soccer team has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Women's Soccer Player of the Week while senior Ali Smith (Lenexa, Kan.) has been selected MVC Defender of the Week for the second straight week, the conference office announced Monday afternoon. The pair were instrumental in helping Drake beat Illinois State on Sunday to claim the MVC regular season title.
 
Brand scored the first two goals in the Bulldogs' 3-2 comeback win over the Redbirds in overtime. Her first goal came midway through the first half to put Drake up 1-0 and later she netted the equalizer to help force overtime in Normal, Ill. The goals were the first of 2017 for Brand, who has 13 career goals, a total that is 10^th all-time at Drake. This is the second career MVC Player of the Week award for Brand. She is tied for the team lead with four assists.
 
Smith had the golden goal to beat Illinois State. In the 93^rd minute, she headed the ball in off a corner kick by senior Kasey Hurt (Ankeny, Iowa) to give Drake the road win and its second MVC title in three seasons. This season, Smith has two goals and is tied with Brand and Hannah Bormann (Amana, Iowa) for the team lead in assists with four.
 
Drake closes the regular season on Thursday when Loyola visits for a 4 p.m. match at the Cownie Soccer Complex. The match against the Ramblers will be broadcast on The Valley on ESPN3.