Sept. 29, 2003
Two University of Notre Dame men’s soccer players earned weekly awards from the BIG EAST Conference on Monday after helping the Irish to two victories last week, including a 2-1 win over conference opponent Georgetown. Senior forward Justin Detter was named co-offensive player of the week, while classmate and defender Kevin Richards earned the defensive player of the week award.
The Irish are now 6-1-2 on the season, 2-1-0 in the BIG EAST Conference and looking to move up in the polls after several top-10 teams lost their first game of the season last weekend. Notre Dame, ranked as high as eighth last week, will discover its new national ranking late Monday evening.
Detter scored goals in both of Notre Dame’s victories last week. One of the most dangerous attack specialists in the conference, he is second on the team in goals with three and also has two assists this season. On his first goal of the week against Bradley, Detter out-raced the Brave defense and beat the goaltender one-on-one for an insurance goal in Notre Dame’s 2-0 victory. He notched the first goal of the game against Georgetown on Sunday, perfectly deflecting a great cross from Richards past the Hoya goalkeeper.
His first assist of the season aside, Richards has been a constant strength on the right side of the Irish defense this season. Although Georgetown broke Notre Dame’s shut out streak at four games on Sunday, Richards helped the Irish hold their opponents to just five shots on goal last week. The Warwick, Bermuda, native has also been highly effective on the attack this season.
The defensive honor is the second weekly award of Richards’ career, as he shared the honor on Oct. 21, 2002 after helping Notre Dame to victories over Michigan State and Connecticut. Although a three-time all-BIG EAST honoree, the co-offensive player of the week award is the first conference weekly award of Detter’s career. He shared this week’s award with Villanova’s David O’Donnell.
The first of two road games for the Irish this week is set for Thursday, Oct. 2, at Syracuse (7:00 p.m.). Notre Dame also will travel to Pittsburgh on Sunday, Oct. 5.