ARLINGTON, Texas (September 28, 2026) – The University of North Alabama earned its fourth United Athletic Conference weekly award for women's soccer of the season this week, as captain Adelyn Speight was named Defensive Player of the Week, the league announced Monday.
 
Speight, the senior center back, was named the Defensive Player of the Week for the second time in her career with her first coming last August. The captain was named UAC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year by vote from the league's coaches.
 
This past week, the Lions earned a 2-0 start to conference play with both wins coming on the road. After defeating West Georgia and Austin Peay on Thursday and Sunday respectively, the Lions began conference play with two consecutive road wins for the first time since 2023.
 
That 2023 season, UNA defeated Atlantic Sun foes Jacksonville State and Kennesaw State on the road – the Lions made a trip to the ASUN Championship that season.
 
Speight played all 180 minutes through the two games this week. The senior captain helped UNA shut out West Georgia, 1-0, before her play limited Austin Peay to one goal in a 2-1 victory.
 
Across the two matches, the Lion defense allowed just one goal and five shots on target – three from the Wolves and two from the Govs.
 
"Addie played extremely well this week helping the team get off to an undefeated start in conference," said head coach Chris Walker. "Starting off with two games on the road is never easy, so to come through them with six points was the perfect way to begin conference play. Her leadership and experience is shown every game as it shined through this past week. She is extremely deserving of this award and we are expectant for more in her future."
 
Speight is the fourth winner of a UAC Weekly Award this season. She follows Anna Fugarino, Avery Smith and Charlotte Sobotka who each collected their first career weekly awards earlier this season.
 
This is the 19th weekly award since the Division I transition under Walker. This season now matches the 2023 and 2025 seasons for the second most weekly awards through the Division I era — the 2022 team owns the most with six.
 
North Alabama now has the second-most UAC weekly awards behind Abilene Christian which has five. Little Rock and Tarleton State both have three each after the first week of conference play, while Eastern Kentucky received their first pair of awards this week.

In a battle of the preseason favorites, Eastern Kentucky travels to Florence on Sunday, Oct. 4 as the Lions host the first soccer game on Bobby Wallace Field at Bank Independent Stadium at 1 p.m.
 
For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.