DENVER – Air Force's Thaddaeus Dewing and Grand Canyon's Esai Easley been named Western Athletic Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, for September 6 through September 12.
Dewing, a sophomore forward from Colorado Springs, Colo., scored twice to help the Falcons go 1-0-1 in their home openers. On Friday against Cal State Fullerton, he scored his first goal of the season in the 63rd minute to put the Falcons up 3-0 before the Titans stormed back to earn a draw. On Sunday, Dewing scored the equalizer in the 26th minute and the Falcons added four more to blow past Evansville, 5-1.
Easley, a senior defender from Kona, Hawai'i, stepped up big for the Lopes, playing every minute in wins at 22nd-ranked Oregon State and at home against perennial-power Saint Mary's. Against the Beavers, he played all 90 minutes as GCU kept the Beavers scoreless. He followed that up with 90 more minutes of shutout soccer against the Gaels in front of over 5,000 of his closest friends, adding the game-winning goal in the 16th minute to help the Lopes move to 4-1-0 on the young season.
Other offensive nominees: California Baptist's Tete Vacas had a hand in both goals on Thursday, assisting on the equalizer and then scoring the overtime winner in a 3-1 win over UC Riverside … Grand Canyon's Justin Rasmussen scored the winning goal against 22nd-ranked Oregon State, converting on a penalty kick in the 89th minute for a 1-0 victory … Houston Baptist's Luis Poblacion scored once and assisted on two more scores in the Huskies' 6-0 win over Huston-Tillotson … UNLV's Aedon Kyra scored in each of the Rebels' matches on the week, scoring the game-winning goal on Friday at Sacramento State before adding UNLV's lone goal in a 2-1 loss at Pacific on Sunday night … Seattle U's James Morris assisted on the game winning goal at 24th-ranked Duke and then scored the game-winning goal in overtime on Sunday against Dartmouth … UT Rio Grande Valley's Yusuf Cueceoglu scored twice on the week, notching a score each in a 3-1 win at Florida Atlantic and a 2-1 loss at 13th-ranked Florida International … Utah Valley's Aaron Nixon scored his second game-winning goal of the season in a 2-1 win at Bradley on Sunday.
Other defensive nominees: Air Force's Giuliano Daniel led the Falcons to a 1-0-1 week at home with a draw against Cal State Fullerton and a 5-1 win against Evansville … Houston Baptist's Gustavo Otero recorded the clean sheet in Friday's 6-0 win over Huston-Tillotson and then made seven saves in a 2-0 loss to Oral Roberts …San José State's Eric Waltz led the Spartans to a road draw at 20th-ranked Stanford, making a career-high seven saves against the Cardinal ... Seattle U's Alex Acton-Petronotis helped the Redhawks' go 2-1 on the week, including scoring the game-winning goal in overtime at Duke after anchoring the backline that kept the 24th-ranked Blue Devils scoreless … Utah Valley's Carter Johnson played all 200 minutes on UVU's back line during its Illinois road-trip, earning a scoreless draw at Northwestern before earning a 2-1 win at Bradley.