BOSTON – Following a turnaround 2-0 week, the University at Albany men's soccer team had two players named to the America East's weekly awards. Senior Nico Solabarrieta earned his second Offensive Player of the Week award of the season, and freshman Hugo Guerra was named Rookie of the Week for the first time. They were named alongside Defensive Player of the Week Christian Miesch from Stony Brook.
Solabarrieta, a forward from Santiago, Chile, had a career day in UAlbany's first game at American University last Tuesday. Solabarrieta did not play in the first half, and entered the game to start the second with the game tied a two. He proceeded to score four goals to put UAlbany up 6-2 before being subbed out after 27 minutes of play.
Solabarrieta's four goals and eight points in the game were both single-game program records, helping UAlbany score the most goals in a single game under head coach Trevor Gorman, as well as set a single-game program record for total points with 20.
To cap off the week, Solabarrieta scored one goal and recorded one assist against Vermont on Friday en route to a 3-1 victory over the Catamounts, the Danes' first conference win this season. He now leads the America East outright with 21 total points, and shares the lead with Vermont's Geo Alves with nine goals.
Further, Solabarrieta was named to the collegesoccernews.com National Team of the Week for his performances in both UAlbany victories, his first time being named to the team and the first Great Dane named since teammate Daniel Krutzen last season.
Guerra, a forward from Brewster, N.Y., scored his first career goal in the first half against American, and then scored again in the game against Vermont. He currently ranks tied for fourth on the team with six total points this season, having appeared in all 13 games for UAlbany so far, including four starts.
UAlbany begins a two-game road trip, its last of the 2018 regular season, on Saturday, October 20 against preseason conference favorite and 2017 title game opponent UMass Lowell.
