SOMERSET, N.J. – Fairleigh Dickinson men's soccer junior
Diego Arribas and freshman
Ville Ahola were honored with Northeast Conference Player and Rookie of the Week honors, respectively, from the conference office on Tuesday.
Arribas garnered NEC Player of the Week honors for the second time this season after scoring two goals, including the golden goal winner in overtime, to help the Knights defeat St. Francis Brooklyn by a 4-3 score at home Saturday. Arribas tied the match at 1-1 with a left-footed goal in the 15th minute, and six minutes into the overtime period, he collected a long pass from teammate
Fallou Tounkara and finished from the left side across the goal into the right corner for his second score of the game.
The junior now leads the Knights with eight goals and 18 points this season, ranking second in the league in both goals and points. The Madrid, Spain, native was also named NEC Player of the Week
on September 10 after helping the Knights defeat no. 23 UConn and Gonzaga with two goals and an assist.
Ahola earned his first conference weekly award after registering two assists to help the Knights defeat St. Francis Brooklyn. Both of his assists were direct passes that led to goals, with the first one to Arribas on a leading ball that his teammate finished to tie the match at 1-1. Then in the final minute, the freshman played a great service into the box that connected with redshirt senior
Daniel Lasarte for the game-tying goal that sent the match to overtime.
The Jarvenpaa, Finland, native now has five assists this season to lead the team and move into a tie for the second-most in the league. His assists total leads all NEC freshmen this season.
The Knights (6-6-2, 2-2-2 NEC) are currently in seventh place in the NEC standings with eight points, trailing Robert Morris (10 points) by two points with three matches left in the season. FDU goes on the road for its next two games, first playing at fourth-place Bryant (12 points) on Friday at 3 p.m., before finishing the week at first-place Merrimack (18 points) on Sunday for a 2 p.m., contest.
Bogota Savings Bank is the presenting sponsor of the 2019 men's soccer season.
