IUPUI’s Cortes, WIU’s Lopez Earn Men’s Soccer Awards

9/3/2013 12:00:00 AM

ELMHURST, Ill. – Western Illinois' Diego Lopez and IUPUI's Eduardo Cortes earned The Summit League's Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week honors for men's soccer. The duo earned recognition for their performances during the season's opening weekend, Aug. 30-Sept. 2. The selections mark the initial weekly awards of the 2013 season.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Diego Lopez, Western Illinois
Fr. // F // Warsaw, Ind.
Lopez earned his first career award by scoring goals in each of his first two college matches, including a game-winning tally. Against Jacksonville, Lopez scored in the 13^th minute and the goal stood as the difference in his team's 1-0 triumph. In his previous outing, Lopez scored his first collegiate goal in the 72^nd minute against North Florida. For the week, he accounted for all of his team's scoring and earned a selection to the all-tournament team at the Mike Gibbs Memorial Tournament.

Also nominated: Oscar Uyamadu, Fort Wayne.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Eduardo Cortes
So. // GK // Dallas, Texas
Cortes collected his fifth career award after posting a shutout in the season opener against Detroit. He turned away five shots to preserve a scoreless tie against the reigning Horizon League Champion and collect his sixth career shutout. Cortes' five career honors tie him for third-most on The Summit League's all-time list of Defensive Player of the Week awards (2002-11).

Also nominated: Yves Dietrich, Western Illinois.

ABOUT THE SUMMIT LEAGUE
In its fourth decade of Division I athletics, The Summit League offers 19 championship sports and has a combined enrollment of over 120,000 at eight institutions, including three located in top 60 U.S. metro populations and two land-grant universities. Member institutions include: Denver (University of Denver), Fort Wayne (Indiana University-Purdue University-Fort Wayne), IUPUI (Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis), North Dakota State University, Omaha (University of Nebraska Omaha), the University of South Dakota, South Dakota State University and Western Illinois University. Previously known as the Mid-Continent Conference, The Summit League rebranded in 2007 and has since produced eight NCAA Champions, 62 All-Americans and 50 Academic All-America selections.

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