Information by OL Reign
Photos by Alejandra Rivera.
The National Women’s Soccer League announced today that it has named OL Reign forward Tziarra King as the league’s Budweiser Player of the Week for her performance against the Orlando Pride on Saturday, July 24. King had an assist and a goal that secured the team’s first ever win at Exploria Stadium in Orlando, Florida.
The NWSL Player of the Week is selected each week by the NWSL Media Association, a collection of writers that cover the league on a consistent basis.
King had a tremendous outing against Orlando, winning 100% of her aerial duels and 75% of all duels. Not only did she work hard to drive the OL Reign attack forward for 64 minutes, but she also worked to apply intense pressure to Orlando and win the ball back defensively.
In the 10th minute of the match, King earned her first assist for the Reign when she played a ball through the Orlando defense to Fishlock at the top of the 18-yard box, who turned and scored the opening goal of the match. Later, in the 51st minute, King notched a goal of her own, perfectly finding the lower corner of the net to beat the Orlando goalkeeper.
The former North Carolina State University forward has played in nine games for the Reign this season for a total of 410 minutes. She has earned 11 shots, one goal and one assist. King’s energy and willingness to apply intense pressure to opposing defenders has been a key factor in driving OL Reign’s attack this season.
“One of the things about being a forward is it’s confidence position. You have to spend the time in training going through the reps. There’s plenty of growth for King. She a very multidimensional player and the ceiling for her is very, very high,” said OL Reign interim head coach Sam Laity.
King is the second OL Reign player to win the Player of the Week award this year and this is her first time receiving this award.