KANSAS CITY, Mo. – For the second time this season, a Clayton State soccer student-athlete has been named a Division II National Player of the Week by the United Soccer Coaches.

Valentina Bonaiuto becomes the first Clayton State women's soccer student-athlete to earn the award in the program's history. She joins Alexis Iturria from the Lakers' men's team to earn the award this season.

She also joins Lander's Emma Sexton and Flagler's Josefine Nilsen as the only other Peach Belt Conference student-athletes to earn the award this season.

Earlier in the week, Bonaiuto was named the PBC Goalkeeper of the Week for the first time in her career.

This past week, the Valencia, Venezuela native helped the Lakers to a 2-0 week. In a 3-0 win over Georgia College, she made 11 saves and faced 23 shots.

In the following the game, she produced another shutout as Clayton State upended North Georgia 1-0. She made four saves in that game and faced 16 shots, 11 of which came in the second half.

For the season, she has 58 saves and has played all 1112:20 minutes in goal.

She is second in the conference with four shutouts and third in saves per game.

For the season, the Lakers are 5-6-1 but have gone 5-3-0 in league play. Twice this season Clayton State has played a top-two team. On Sept. 18, the Lakers hosted No. 1 Flagler and then traveled to No. 2 Columbus State on
Oct. 16.

Clayton State closes out the regular season on Saturday, Oct. 30 with a Senior Day matchup against Young Harris. Gametime is set for 3:00 p.m.
 
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