Nov. 4, 2014
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – University of Notre Dame junior midfielder Evan Panken has been named the Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Soccer Player of the Week.
Panken (Edina, Minn.) tallied two goals and two assists last week. On Wednesday, he put the Fighting Irish on top in the 56th minute of an eventual 1-1 draw with No. 12 Michigan State. On Saturday, he notched a career-high four points on one goal and two assists in a 4-1 win at Pitt that clinched the ACC Coastal Division for Notre Dame. He assisted on the team’s first two goals against the Panthers before burying the final tally of the match.
“Evan is very deserving of this honor,” Notre Dame head coach Bobby Clark said. “His goal against Michigan State was key and the two early assists against Pitt were important. The fourth goal (versus Pitt) wasn’t quite as important, but it’s always nice to see it go in. It certainly was a good week and he’s a guy who is just always around the goal. He sniffs around and gets key goals. It’s nice because we have a few people on the team who have that ability.”
Panken, a starter in every match over the last two seasons, has a career-high 12 points this year on four goals and four assists. The junior has three goals and three assists in the last five matches alone.
This is the first ACC weekly honor of Panken’s career. He is the first Fighting Irish player this season to be named the league’s player of the week. Last week, Panken was selected to the Capital One Academic All-District 5 First Team.
No. 5 Notre Dame (10-4-3, 6-1-1 ACC) will play host to No. 21 Virginia or Virginia Tech on Sunday in the quarterfinals of the ACC Championship. The match is slated for 1 p.m. (ET) at Alumni Stadium.
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