DENVER - Utah Valley's Paul Hoffmeister and San José State's Andy Rios have been named Western Athletic Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, for Oct. 9 - 15.
Hoffmeister, a senior midfielder from Hilden, Germany (Dietrich Bonhoeffer Gymnasium), scored the game-winner in Thursday's 2-1 win over Kansas City and then scored the equalizing goal in a 1-1 draw with 12th-ranked Air Force on Saturday. Against Kansas City, he put in the volley off a save to give the Wolverines the advantage in the 86th minute. He followed that up with a goal on in the bottom left corner in the 43rd minute against Air Force as the Wolverines picked up four crucial points on the week.
Rios, a junior defender from Chowchilla, Calif. (Chowchilla HS/Fresno City College), anchored the SJSU back line as the Spartans came up with their first shutout in conference play this season with a 1-0 road win at Houston Baptist. He was a key figure in preventing the Huskies from earning a shot on goal as San José State picked up its first road win of the season.
Other offensive nominees: Grand Canyon's Charlie Keating scored a goal and assisted on another in the Lopes' 2-0 win over Incarnate Word on Friday … UNLV's Marco Gonzalez posted his second brace of the season with a pair of goals in Friday's 3-2 win over UT Rio Grande Valley … Seattle U's Sergio Rivas scored the Redhawks' first goal in a 2-1 win over Kansas City after assisting on the first goal in Thursday's 2-2 draw with 12th-ranked Air Force … UT Rio Grande Valley's Angel Lopez scored both of the goals in the Vaqueros' 2-0 win over Grand Canyon on Sunday.
Other defensive nominees: UIW's Brendan Brown made a total of 11 saves in losses on the road at Grand Canyon and UNLV … UNLV's Adam Musovski was the defensive leader for the Rebels as they allowed just one live ball goal in a pair of wins at home … UT Rio Grande Valley's Esa Aalto made four saves to earn his first shutout of the season in a 2-0 win over visiting Grand Canyon … Utah Valley's Giovanny Vazquez helped the Wolverines earn four points with a win over Kansas City and a draw with 12th-ranked Air Force.