College soccer week four recap & awards

Mike Biggs’ name was in the news a lot last week since the former Delaware star who played for the Blue Hens from 1968-1970 had his program scoring mark tied and broken by senior forward Guillermo Delgado.

Delgado tied the mark in a 3-1 win over Seton Hall and then broke it by passing the century mark in a 2-1 overtime win over William & Mary. But even his solid back-to-back outings were overshadowed by the dominance of fellow Spaniard Jorge Gomez Sanchez.

The Temple senior had a brace in a loss to Drexel and followed that up with a hat trick in a dominate performance over Fairfield. He also added an assist that put him second only to Buffalo’s Russell Cicerone on the national scoring charts for total points.

As single game performances go, Penn State senior Connor Maloney had a goal and three assists in a win over Ohio State while Cal senior forward Christian Thierjung went off with five goals in a win over Harvard.

The top spot in the rankings is never easy to keep as Notre Dame discovered with a visit to Louisville. The Cards rode a Mohamed Thiaw goal in the 25th minute to a 1-0 winner over the Fighting Irish in an upset that wasn’t nearly as shocking as Eastern Tennessee State beating a North Carolina squad that looked to be poised to take over the No. 1 spot last Tuesday.

Notre Dame and North Carolina weren’t the only teams to fall from the ranks of the unbeaten in week four. Buffalo suffered their first loss on the road to South Florida and Marist suffered their first defeat. Syracuse, however, continued to roll by improving to 7-0-0 while unbeatens Denver, Butler, San Diego State, Loyola Chicago and UMass Lowell avoided adding a number to the loss column.

Goal of the Week

Handwalla Bwana, a Seattle Sounders Academy grad, uncorked this one for Washington.

Players of the Week

Regional Player of the Week: Jorge Gomez Sanchez, Sr., Temple
Gomez Sanchez climbed the national scoring charts with five goals and an assist for the week to give him 9 goals and 3 assists for the year.

Philadelphia Union Academy Player of the Week: Connor Maloney, Sr., Penn State
Maloney had a goal and three assists in a much-needed win for the Nittany Lions in Big 10 play against Ohio State last Tuesday.

National Player of the Week: Christian Thierjung, Sr., California
It’s hard to deny the impact Thierjung had in a week he scored six goals, including five in one game against Harvard.

Teams of the Week

Union Academy/Regional Team of the Week

GK: Etan Mabourakh, So., Penn
The sophomore from Florida made three saves to record the clean sheet over La Salle on Saturday.

D: Billy McConnell, Sr., Indiana (Richboro, Pa.)**
Had a goal in a 2-0 win over Michigan and helped the Hoosiers back line to a pair of clean sheets.

MF: Jaime Martinez, Sr., Delaware
Martinez assisted on the first goal and scored a dramatic overtime winner as time was expiring in a 2-1 win over William & Mary on Saturday.

MF: Zach Zandi, So., Villanova (West Chester, Pa.)*
Zach scored his second career goal from the penalty spot to tie the game in the second half against Butler on Saturday and created several chances in the match.

MF: Joonas Jokinen, Jr., Temple
Jokinen had a goal and four assists in two games for the Owls.

MF: Colin McGlynn, Jr., Drexel (Jamison, Pa.)
McGlynn scored a goal and assisted on the game-winner in a 3-2 win over Temple.

F: Brett Campbell, Sr., Georgetown (Wallingford, Pa.)**
Campbell scored the lone goal in a 1-0 win over Providence in Georgetown’s Big East opener on Saturday.

F: Kenny Lassiter, R-Jr., Syracuse (Narberth, Pa.)**
Lassiter scored his third of the year in a 2-0 win over Boston College on Friday night.

F: Connor Maloney, Sr., Penn State (Harrisburg, Pa.)**
See above.

F: Jorge Gomez Sanchez, Sr., Temple
See above.

F: Guillermo Delgado, Sr., Delaware
Delgado tied and broke the all-time program scoring mark with a goal and two assists in a win over Seton Hall on Wednesday and a goal in a 2-1 overtime win over William & Mary on Saturday.

National Team of the Week

GK: J.T. Marcincowski, So., Georgetown
The Hoyas keeper and San Jose Earthquakes Academy grad helped Georgetown to a clean sheet with eight saves in a 1-0 win over Providence in their Big East opener.

D: Kortne Ford, Jr., Denver
Ford had another strong week for the Pioneers anchoring the defense to two clean sheets and contributing his third goal of the season.

D: Chase Clack, Jr., ETSU
Scored the lone goal and helped the defense shut out North Carolina in a huge 1-0 upset over the previously unbeaten Tar Heels.

D: Matej Dekovic, Sr., Charlotte
Scored the lone goal to beat Coastal Carolina and helped lead the 49er back line to a pair of shutouts.

D: Bradley Centala, Jr., Michigan State
Scored the game-winning goal in 1-0 win over Michigan.

MF: Jorge Gomez Sanchez, Sr., Temple
See above.

F: Mohamed Thiaw, Jr., Louisville
Scored the game-winner to knock off No. 1 Notre Dame.

F: Albert Ruiz, Jr., Florida Gulf Coast
Scored a hat trick against UNC Wilmington.

F: Niko Hansen, Sr., New Mexico
Hansen scored a hat trick for the Lobos in a 3-1 road win over UC Irvine

F: David Goldsmith, Sr., Butler
Goldsmith was a thorn in the Wildcats side all afternoon as he was involved in all three goals, heading home the game winner for his second of the day in overtime to beat Villanova on Saturday.

F: Christian Thierjung, Sr., California
See above.