• UC Santa Barbara senior Thibault Candia and Sacramento State sophomore Benji Kikanovic were named Big West Men’s Soccer Offensive Co-Players of the Week after each recorded a hat trick.

• Candia scored three goals in UCSB’s 4-0 victory over UMBC, posting the program’s first hat trick since 2011.

• Candia helped the Gauchos extend their win streak to four straight, and their third shutout in the last four games.

• Kikanovic collected just the fifth hat trick in Sacramento State’s Division I era in Thursday’s 4-2 win against San Francisco. It was the first by a Hornet since 2004.

• He scored the three goals on five shots.

Others nominated: Emmanuel Perez (Cal Poly); Christian Pinzon (Cal State Fullerton); Adam Mickelson (UC Davis); Caio Guazelli (UC Riverside)

• UC Riverside senior Edwyn Gutierrez cleaned up the stat sheet with 15 saves over 220 minutes to garner his first career Big West Men’s Soccer Defensive Player of the Week honor.

• Helping the Highlanders record a pair of scoreless draws – 0-0 versus No. 22 Loyola Marymount and 1-1 against Grand Canyon, Gutierrez lowered his season goals against average to a miniscule 0.58.

• Gutierrez notched a career-high nine saves, including seven in the second half, and made two impressive stops on would-be goals as LMU got shutout for the first time.
 
• He made six saves against the Lopes, helping UCR preserve the tie despite playing down a man for the final 32 minutes.  

Others nominated: Carlos Arce-Hurtado (Cal Poly); Paul-Andre Guerin (Cal State Fullerton); Ryan Curtis (Sacramento State); Sahid Conteh (UC Santa Barbara)