BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Western Washington University men's soccer program is on a roll with a current eight-game unbeaten streak and today was rewarded with a sweep of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Player of the Week awards. 

 

Junior midfielder Georg Cholewa was selected as the Offensive Player of the Week and sophomore defender Teagan Eldridge was picked as the Defensive Player of the Week. WWU has set a program record with six GNAC Player of the Week awards this season, including a Viking winning the defensive award in each of the last five weeks.

 

Cholewa (Leipzig, Germany) played a role in all four of the Vikings goals during a 2-0-0 week with a pair of 2-1 road wins over Montana State Billings and Simon Fraser. The junior midfielder had a pair of assists in the win at MSUB and recorded his third career brace in the 2-1 win at SFU Saturday night. This is Cholewa's second GNAC Player of the Week honor, also earning the offensive award Sept. 3-9, 2018.

 

Eldridge (Enumclaw, WA) played the full 90 minutes in each win last week, starting at defender in both road matches. The sophomore was a key part in limiting MSUB and SFU to one goal in each game, while also assisting on the game-winning goal in the 2-1 win at SFU. Eldridge has started all 13 matches this season for the Vikings.

 

WWU is 9-3-1 overall and has a current eight-game unbeaten streak going 7-0-1 during that stretch. The Vikings have won their last five games to improve to 6-0-1 in GNAC play and are on top of the table with 19 points. After playing their last four matches on the road (going 4-0-0), the Vikings close out the 2019 regular season with four of the last five matches at Harrington Field, beginning with a Thursday night rivalry match vs. Seattle Pacific at Harrington Field (7 pm kickoff). 

 

Including the awards for Georg Cholewa and Teagan Eldridge, WWU had five student-athletes earn GNAC Athlete of the Week awards for competition October 21-27. Estera Levinte (Women's Soccer – Offense), Chloe Roetcisoender (Volleyball – Defense) and Ethan Casto (Men's Golf) were also honored in their respective sports. Through the first two months of competition in 2019-20, WWU has received 25 GNAC Player of the Week Awards.

 

Currently the Vikings men's soccer (9-3-1, 6-0-1 GNAC), volleyball (19-1, 11-1 GNAC), and women's soccer (13-2-0, 9-0-0 GNAC) are in first place in the conference standings, with both the men's and women's cross country teams also winning this year's GNAC Championships team titles.

 

WWU has had six GNAC Men's Soccer Player of the Week award winners in 2019 to set a program record for conference weekly awards in a season. The old mark was five GNAC Player of the Week awards set just a season ago in 2018. Here is the listing of the 2019 GNAC Men's Soccer Players of the Week:

 

 

The WWU men's soccer team has won 49 total GNAC Player of the Week awards, 11 selections over the last two seasons. The complete list of WWU players to earn GNAC Player of the Week honors is available in the following document via WWUVikings.com/MSOC.

 

Fans can follow WWU men's soccer online at WWUVikings.com/MSoc, and via social media on Twitter (@SoccerWWU), Instagram (@wwu_msoccer) and Facebook (@WWUsoccermens). All home matches feature a live webcast, as well as most road matches, with links on how to follow the games available at WWUVikings.com/Live.

 

The Western Washington University men's soccer program enters its 40^th season at the varsity level in 2019 with head coach Greg Brisbon leading the program in his seventh season as the head coach. The program has recorded an overall record at or above the .500 mark in six of the last seven seasons, including a 11-6-1 mark overall in 2018 and a 7-4-1 mark in the GNAC to finish second in the conference. In 2016 the Vikings advanced to the NCAA Division II Championships for the first time in program history, using a late-season surge that saw the Vikings 5-0-1 over the last six matches to advance to the postseason. WWU beat 19^th-ranked Dixie State in the first round of the NCAA Championships 3-2 in overtime on a golden goal header. Overall the program has produced 43 GNAC Players of the Week selections, 27 First Team All-GNAC players and 3 GNAC Players of the Year since joining the conference in 2001.