BOCA RATON, Fla. – After Friday night's upset of No. 12 SMU, Florida Atlantic men's soccer was well represented in the American Athletic Conference weekly awards released on Monday.
Neil Strauber earned Goalkeeper of the Week honors,
Andreas Raisanen was named the Rookie of the Week, and
Tom Abrahamsson and
Sebastian Zettl were both included on the weekly honor roll.
Strauber stood tall in goal with six saves to earn his first career Goalkeeper of the Week honor. The native of Tel Aviv, Israel had previously earned a Defensive Player of the Week accolade last season from Conference USA.
Raisanen continued to show his penchant for delivering in the clutch when he tapped in the game-winner in the 81st minute on Friday night. Raisanen's previous two goals this season were also high impact – he scored the only goal in the 1-0 win over UAB on September 24 and he tied the game in the 85th minute in the 2-2 draw with No. 13 Charlotte on October 9.
Abrahamsson and Zettl combined to put the Owls ahead 1-0 in the 15th minute. Zettl's first career goal caromed in off the underside of the cross bar after a perfect cross from Abrahamsson. The pair join Raisanen,
Victor Claudel,
Blake Dean (twice), and
Axel Hofmann as Owls who have previously been named to the AAC honor roll this season.
"This is great recognition for our guys after a big time win," noted head men's soccer coach
Joey Worthen. "Well-deserved for each of them. Hopefully we can keep it going on Wednesday night."
For the full release from the AAC visit
http://theamerican.org/sports/msoc.
FAU men's soccer has one match left in the regular season to secure a place in the AAC postseason tournament. The Owls travel to Miami on Wednesday for a showdown with FIU at 7 p.m.