BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Houston Christian University's
Alex Aitken and
Santiago Maynez have been selected with Ohio Valley Conference honors for the span of October 6-12. Aitken picked up Goalkeeper of the Week accolades while Maynez was tabbed Defensive Player of the Week.
It is the fourth honor of the season and seventh overall for Aitken in his career. The Great Barford, England native posted two clean sheets, making five saves in Thursday's 3-0 victory over Eastern Illinois University, before needing just two saves in a 1-0 Sunday matinee win over Western Illinois University.
The senior now has 282 saves in his career at HCU, the most in program history. He has seven shutouts on the season, and the blanking of WIU on Sunday gave him 19 for his career, surpassing former keeper and head coach Benny Agosto for the top spot in program history.
Now 8-3-1 on the season, Aitken leads the league in shutouts and goals against average at 0.75. He is also first in save percentage at .855 while ranking fourth in total saves with 53 on the year.
A freshman defender from El Paso, Maynez picks up the first accolade of the season after helping a staunch defensive effort by the Huskies that resulted in back-to-back shutouts. He led a back line that allowed just seven shots on goal among 25 total attempts, and his solid build up play aided an offense that scored four times in two games.
Maynez has made 11 starts in 12 appearances, playing the full 90 on five occasions with nine outings of 79 minutes or more.
HCU hit the midway point of the conference slate by posting its third straight win on Sunday afternoon. The Huskies, 8-3-1 overall, now sit in a three-way tie for first place at 3-1-1 in league play with Liberty and Lindenwood by virtue of the Flames handing Lindenwood its' first loss of the season on Sunday afternoon.
Houston Christian University begins its final regular season road trip with a rematch of last year's Ohio Valley Conference Championship match, as the Huskies travel to Edwardsville, Illinois to take on SIUE on Thursday evening.
The Huskies will then head to St. Charles, Missouri for its final road match as it faces off with Lindenwood in a Sunday matinee. HCU then closes the regular season slate with three straight on Fondren Road, a stretch that opens with a Friday match against arch-rival University of the Incarnate Word on October 24. The game with UIW is a rematch of the conference opener, a 1-1 stalemate in San Antonio on September 26.
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