August 7, 2001

Mile High's Nikki Thole is W-1 Player of the Week

 Although the Mile High Mustangs were out of the playoff chase, Mustangs forward Nikki Thole didn't take things lightly as she earned the W-1 Player of the Week honor with three goals in her debut for the club. Thole's hat-trick gave Mile High a 4-1 win over the Fort Collins Force Sunday in the final game of the W-1 season.

She has been rehabilitating a left knee injury but opened the scoring just before halftime when Diana DiMatteo made a run up the right side and sent the ball to the penalty spot, where Thole slotted the ball past Force goalkeeper Emily Oleksiuk in the 43rd minute for the 1-0 halftime lead. Ten minutes into the second half, the All-American from the University of Missouri made it 2-0 only to see Emily Schmidt pull one back for the Force a minute later. Janice Armstrong made it 3-1 in the 80th and Thole finished her hat-trick