Sophomore duo Eric Gonzalez of UC Riverside and Michael Breslin of UC Irvine impacted conference tournament seeding with exceptional play that led them to Big West Men’s Soccer Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week honors, respectively.
Gonzalez Helps Highlanders Land Tournament Seed
UC Riverside sophomore Eric Gonzalez (Corona, Calif./Santiago HS) captured Big West Men’s Soccer Offensive Player of the Week honors as he helped the Highlanders overcome a two-goal deficit and clinch the No. 3 seed from the South Division in the upcoming conference tournament.
With the Highlanders trailing division rival Cal State Fullerton 2-0 in the second half of Saturday’s regular season finale, Gonzalez executed a nice pass for a streaking Ivan Garcia for the team’s first goal at the 58:59 mark.
Gonzalez contributed the game-tying goal, his first of the year, nearly nine minutes later. The midfielder/defender latched onto a give-and-go pass from Aaron Long and deposited a shot past the Titan keep from the right side of the 18. The Highlanders later completed the comeback for the 3-2 victory and assured themselves of a tournament berth.
He began the 13th different player to score a goal for UCR this season.
Others nominated: Chris Smith (Cal State Northridge); Matt Wiesenfarth (UC Davis); Christopher Santana (UC Irvine); Goffin Boyoko (UC Santa Barbara)
Breslin Helps UC Irvine To South Division Title
Michael Breslin (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif./Tesoro HS) helped UC Irvine secure the South Division title with stellar goaltender play in a pair of wins, as the redshirt sophomore claimed Big West Men’s Soccer Defensive Player of the Week accolades.
Breslin, who leads the conference with seven shutouts, did not pick up any clean sheets but held down UC Riverside and No. 20 Cal State Northridge after both foes got out to early leads.
He made two of his three saves against the Matadors in the final five minutes to preserve the 2-1 victory on Saturday that clinched UC Irvine’s fourth conference title in the last six season. Breslin improved to 12-4-3 on the year.
In another 2-1 triumph on Wednesday at UC Riverside, the netminder stopped four first-half shots, his lone blemish an early second half goal.
For the week, Breslin posted a 1.00 goals against average with seven saves and a .778 save percentage.
Others nominated: Omar Zeenni (UC Davis); Daniel Welsh (UC Santa Barbara)