INDIANAPOLIS - With the regular season wrapped up, playoff qualifiers are preparing for the next step of their journey as Great Midwest Athletic Conference Women's Soccer Players of the Week were announced.
 
Eight postseason qualifiers will play their quarterfinal matchups on Saturday while the final four advancing programs will meet in Columbus with Ohio Dominican serving as host next week on Thursday (semis) and Saturday (championship).
 
Offensive Player of the Week
Manuela Filipe
Ohio Valley
Midfield
Freshman
Santa Maria de Feira, Aveiro, Portugal (Santa Maria de Feira)
 
A handful of players scored a pair of goals over the final week of the regular season as Filipe helped the Fighting Scots not only secure six points in the standings, but also clinch a home field first-round game in the conference tournament bracket.
 
The Fighting Scots finished with a 5-4-1 record and fourth place in the conference, an impressive feat considering they were picked second to last in the preseason coaches poll while jumpstarting the program from a brief hiatus.
 
Filipe scored the game's lone goal in a key contest against another playoff team, Trevecca Nazarene. She found the net midway through the second half as it took just one of OVU's 19 shots to decide the outcome.
 
The Fighting Scots were pushed to overtime against Kentucky Wesleyan as the Panthers tried to keep their postseason chances alive. Like the TNU game, it was exactly the 76th minute for Filipe to score and tie the match at 2-2.
 
Filipe's goal helped force OT where the Fighting Scots celebrated their golden goal less than two minutes after the whistle.
 
Defensive Player of the Week
Alaina Behnke
Ohio Dominican
Defense
Junior
Lima, OH (Lima Shawnee HS)
 
Going into the conference tournament as the No. 2 seed, the Panthers have recorded eight shutouts in their nine games played.
 
Keeping their opponents off the scoreboard has been a telling theme for ODU under first-year head coach Reilee DuPratt as they enter the spring playoffs as a viable championship contender.
 
The body of work to close out the regular season was very notable while defeating Malone and Walsh, by respective 1-0 scores. Both Malone and Walsh qualified for the conference tournament as Behnke and her teammates turned away any scoring opportunities.
 
Behnke helped ODU limit Walsh to just six shots as she fired one of her own. Versus Malone, it was the same shot total managed by the Pioneers as the junior defender started both matchups.