• UC Irvine junior Christian Gutierrez earned his first career Big West Men’s Soccer Offensive Player of the Week honor thanks to a standout performance against No. 22 Loyola Marymount.

• Gutierrez played a role in every scoring play for the Anteaters in their 3-3 tie with the Lions on Thursday.

• The Mexico native scored a pair of goals, including one just 34 seconds into the second half that knotted the game at 1-1. He also converted a penalty kick goal at the 57:35 mark which put the ‘Eaters up 3-2.

• Gutierrez fed a beautiful pass to Jose Ortiz for UCI’s second goal in the 48th minute but did not get credit for an assist from the LMU scorekeeper.

• His playmaking ability increased his team-leading points total to six as UCI’s unbeaten streak extended to four (1-0-3).

Others nominated: Jaime Robles (Sacramento State); Kristian Heptner (UC Davis); Rodney Michael (UC Santa Barbara)
 

• Ben Roach garnered his first career Big West Men’s Soccer Defensive Player of the Week award as the goalkeeper helped UC Santa Barbara extend its unbeaten streak to eight games.

• The sophomore registered a 1.35 goals against average with five saves in a 1-0-1 week for the Gauchos. UCSB tied No. 25 San Diego, 2-2, on the road before coming home for a 3-1 victory against Cal Poly in phase one of the Blue-Green rivalry.

• Roach stopped four shots against the Toreros, including a tipped save over the crossbar in the 104th minute which prevented San Diego from winning the match.

• He made one save against the Mustangs. Roach has played every minute in goal for UCSB this season in helping steer his team to a 7-2-2 record.
 
Others nominated: Nabi Kibunguchy (UC Davis)