Big South Announces Men's Soccer Players of the Week - Aug. 28
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Gardner-Webb forward Santiago Hoyos (Medellin, Colombia) and Winthrop forward Ricardo Ferreira (Espinho, Portugal) have been named the Big South Men’s Soccer Co-Offensive Players of the Week, while Runnin’ Bulldog defender Leo Andrade (São Paulo, Brazil) is the Defensive Player of the Week for matches played during the first week of the regular season, it was announced today. In addition, Presbyterian College forward Victor Faaborg Christensen (Gammel Holte, Denmark) has been selected as the Freshman of the Week.
Hoyos scored both goals on Sunday afternoon to lead Gardner-Webb to a 2-0 upset at South Carolina. The sophomore forward opened the scoring early with a goal in the seventh minute to give the Runnin’ Bulldogs a lead. He followed up in the second half by converting on a penalty kick for his second score of the contest in the 56th minute for a 2-0 advantage, one that GWU would go on to maintain. IHoyos played 138 minutes in total in two matches with Gardner-Webb winning both to open the year at 2-0.
Ferreira also netted two goals in one match, doing so for Winthrop in a thrilling 2-0 victory at Coastal Carolina to open the season. All even at a scoreless draw late in the contest, Ferreira broke through with a score at 81:54 to put the Eagles ahead. Not finished yet, the junior forward added then added another goal just four minutes later to lead WU to a thrilling win.
Andrade anchored a Gardner-Webb defense that posted consecutive shutout wins to start the year over Wofford and South Carolina. He also opened the season with a game winner at home against the Terriers, scoring for the first time as a Runnin’ Bulldog to put his team ahead in the 76th minute. Gardner-Webb went on to blank the Gamecocks on Sunday as well, 2-0.
Faaborg Christensen debuted with a hat trick in Presbyterian’s dominant 8-1 season-opening victory over Southern Wesleyan. He kickstarted the scoring with a goal early on at the 6:47 mark, and followed up later in the second half with two additional scores in the 49th minute and again in the 54th minute. It marked only the second hat trick by a Blue Hose during their Division I tenure.
Also nominated for Offensive Player of the Week: Emilio Segovia (Longwood), Alex Kryazhev (Radford), Victor Faaborg Christensen (Presbyterian) and Adrian Panaite (USC Upstate).
Also nominated for Defensive Player of the Week: Anthony Roland (Longwood), Owen Clark (Radford), Cooper Jennings (USC Upstate) and Sam Bell (Winthrop).
Also nominated for Freshman of the Week: Akos Tajtyi (Radford).