The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Woszczynski Earns Fourth Defensive Weekly Award
10/31/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Oct. 31, 2011
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- For a fourth time this season, UAB men's soccer player Carl Woszczynski has been tabbed the Conference USA Defensive Player of the Week, the league announced on Monday. Woszczynski shares this week's honor with FIU's goalkeeper Eric Reyes.
With his four awards on the year, Woszczynski set a new school record for weekly honors in one season, topping his own record of three which he set back during the 2009 campaign.
Woszczynski was named the league's defensive player of the week in each of the first two weeks of the 2011 season (Aug. 29 and Sept. 5), as well as the week of Oct. 17. He now has eight career weekly league awards which are the most by a UAB player in program history.
Woszczynski continued his stellar season with an outstanding week in the net for the 25th-ranked men's soccer team. The Columbus, Ind. native recorded two shutouts on the week to lead the Blazers to a crucial 1-0 road win at then-No. 15 SMU on Wednesday and a 0-0 tie vs. FIU on Saturday.
Against the Mustangs, who were ranked No. 13 in the RPI entering Wednesday's match, Woszczynski played brilliant in goal. He made six saves to keep the Mustangs without a goal on the night, including several diving stops in the winning effort. He also made two saves against the Golden Panthers to keep the Blazers' unbeaten streak alive at seven straight games (6-0-1).
With the two shutouts, Woszczynski stretched his scoreless minutes streak to 182:33 and moved into a tie for first in Conference USA with six cleansheets on the year. Furthermore, he is tied for the league lead in total saves (70) and shut out percentage (.824), and ranks second in goals against average (0.85).
The Blazers close out regular season play on the road with a match at Tulsa on Friday, Nov. 4. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. CT. Should UAB record a win against the Golden Hurricane, coupled by either a tie or loss by South Carolina in either of its two remaining contests, the Blazers will claim at least a share of the 2011 C-USA regular season title for the first time since 1999.
