SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Southern Conference has selected its first series of 2022 Men’s Soccer Player of the Week honorees for contests played from Aug. 25-29. ETSU claims both the offensive and defensive player of the week awards, with senior forward Kieran Richards earning the Offensive Player of the Week honor and goalkeeper Cole Hunter collecting the Defensive Player of the Week award.
 
Richards netted three goals, recorded one assist and tallied seven points to lead the Bucs to a pair of season-opening shutout victories this past week, including a 4-0 win over Longwood on Thursday, Aug. 25, and a 3-0 victory over Davidson on Sunday, Aug. 28. In the Bucs’ nonconference victory over the Lancers on Thursday, Richards opened the contest with an assist in the 24th minute on a goal by Tarik Pannholzer, which handed ETSU the early 1-0 advantage, before lashing a shot past Longwood's keeper in the 46th minute to extend ETSU's lead to 3-0. The senior forward sealed the game for the Bucs and increased the lead to 4-0 by completing a brace in the 78th minute, helping ETSU to its first win of the 2022 campaign. In the Bucs' victory over Davidson, Richards connected with the ball inside the 18-yard box in the 73rd minute and netted his third goal of the week, extending ETSU’s lead to 3-0 and helping the Bucs improve to 2-0 on the young season. The Hamilton, New Zealand, native is the first player with three goals in the opening two matches for ETSU since 2014.
 
Hunter played a major role in ETSU’s pair of shutouts against Longwood and Davidson last week, tallying eight saves and a perfect 1.000 save percentage in 180 minutes of action. In the Bucs’ match against Longwood, Hunter recorded four saves to garner his first clean sheet of the season. Three days later, the redshirt senior goalkeeper helped ETSU’s defense hold Davidson scoreless, grabbing another four saves in goal for the Bucs, including three impressive saves off seven second-half shots to preserve the 3-0 lead en route to the win. The Mount Juliet, Tennessee, native, who posted back-to-back shutouts for the first time in his career, starts the 2022 campaign as the SoCon leader in goals against average (0.00), save percentage (1.000) and saves per game (4.00).
 
The Bucs’ seven goals are the most scored by a Buccaneer team in the first two games to start a season. ETSU's back-to-back shutout wins mark the first time it has accomplished the feat since Oct. 19-22, 2019, when the Bucs blanked VMI 3-0 and then Mercer, 2-0.
 
ETSU (2-0) hits the road for the next two matches, with the Bucs traveling to Asheville, North Carolina, on Friday, Sept. 2, for a nonconference match against UNC Asheville at 6 p.m. before traveling to Clinton, South Carolina, on Tuesday, Sept. 6, for a nonconference match against Presbyterian at 6 p.m.
 
Also nominated for offensive player of the week: Christian Krause (Furman), Dylan Gaither (Mercer), Ismail El Harchi (UNCG) and Nathan Lam (VMI).
 
Also nominated for defensive player of the week: Ben Roberts (Furman), Chad Eldridge (Mercer) and Marco Milanese (UNCG).
 
2022 SoCon Men’s Soccer Offensive Players of the Week
Aug. 30       Kieran Richards, Sr., F, ETSU
 
2022 SoCon Men’s Soccer Defensive Players of the Week
Aug. 30       Cole Hunter, R-Sr., GK, ETSU