The Big West Conference's leading goalscorer, Cal Poly men's soccer junior midfielder Emmanuel Perez earned his first career Big West Offensive Player of the Week award on Monday afternoon.
Perez, who ranks 14th among NCAA Division I players and leads the Big West with nine goals, found the back of the net against both Cal State Fullerton (Oct. 16) and CSUN (Oct. 20) to help fuel successive home victories. He also assisted on junior forward Angel De Leon's 23rd-minute goal during Cal Poly's 3-1 win versus Cal State Fullerton – a strike that counted as the eventual game-winner.
During the two games, Perez placed six of nine shot attempts on target.
Perez, whose nine goals have come in Cal Poly's last 11 games, also ranks eighth among NCAA Division I players in game-winning goals (four), 14th in goals, 16th in goals per game (0.75), 20th in total points (21), 21st in points per game (1.75), 30th in shots per game (3.50) and 37th in shot accuracy (54.8 percent).
Perez became the first Mustang to collect Big West Offensive Player of the Week honors since forward Chase Minter earned the award on Nov. 2, 2015.
With the pair of victories, Cal Poly (6-6-1, 2-2-0) rose to fourth place in the Big West Conference standings on six points. After dropping their opening two Big West matches, the Mustangs now trail Big West leader UC Irvine (6-4-5, 3-0-1) by just four points with three matches remaining.
Cal Poly opens its final road trip of the regular season at Sacramento State on Wednesday, Oct. 23, at 3 p.m. The trip concludes at UC Irvine on Saturday, Oct. 26, at 7 p.m.
-Provided by Cal Poly
