Monday, November 07, 2005

Macon, Ga. – Campbell’s Willy Guadarrama and Mercer’s Aldo Balsano captured the final Atlantic Sun Men’s Soccer Player of the Week honors.

Guadarrama scored two goals last week – both game winners in A-Sun contests – to lead the Fighting Camels to their first A-Sun regular season championship and top seed in the 2005 conference tournament. He scored the lone goal of the match in a 1-0 victory over Mercer (Oct. 31), then tallied the winner versus FAU on Saturday with just 4:50 remaining in the second half as CU rallied from a one-goal deficit in the last 8:07 to end an 8-game losing streak to the Owls. The Houston, Texas, native upped his nation-leading scoring numbers to 44 points (20 goals, 4 assists) in 18 games. He is Campbell’s first 20-goal scorer since Toni Siikala tied for the national lead in 1995 with 25. On the year, Willy Guadarrama has directed 52 percent of his shots on goal. Three of his strikes have been game-winners in A-Sun play (Stetson, Mercer, FAU). In eight A-Sun regular season games, the sophomore scored 11 times and assisted on two other goals (24 points). The sophomore is majoring in Sport Management and won his third Offensive Player of the Week award.

In Mercer’s final regular-season match Saturday night, Balsano garnered his fourth shutout of the season, and second in his last three matches. He collected two saves while helping the Bears snap Winthrop’s four-game win streak and shut down the nation’s fifth-highest scoring offense, as the Eagles entered the match averaging 2.69 goals per game. Earlier in the week, Balsano helped tame Campbell’s 10th-ranked offense in a 1-0 loss. With the win, Balsano improved his record to 5-3-2 on the season and lowered his goals against average to 1.44. The Miami, Fla., native has yet to determine a major.

The Atlantic Sun Conference hands out offensive and defensive Player of the Week awards weekly during the 2005 soccer campaign.

The 11-member league headquartered in Macon, Ga., consists of Belmont, Campbell, ETSU, Florida Atlantic, Gardner-Webb, Jacksonville, Kennesaw State, Lipscomb, Mercer, North Florida and Stetson.

OTHER TOP PERFORMERS
· Carlton Hughes, Gardner-Webb (Jr. - MF - Durbin, South Africa - Sport Management Major)
Posted one goal and two assists in a two-day span where GWU went 2-0-0.

· Tommy Krizanovic Jacksonville (Jr. - F - Jacksonville, Fla. - International Business Major)
Scored twice to lead JU past city rival UNF and finished the week with three goals.