CLEVELAND, Ohio – Freshman Omeed Naeemy of the Cleveland State University men's soccer team was selected as the Nike Horizon League Defensive Player of the Week as announced in a league release Monday afternoon.
It's the first career weekly award for Naeemy as he becomes the fifth active Viking to have a weekly honor from the league, joining Vlad Jandric, Thomas M'Barek, Jannis Schmidt and Gabriel Pewu.
Naeemy played a pivotal role as the Vikings notched a 1-0 win over Milwaukee, their second straight league win.
The rookie was the only Horizon League goalkeeper to register a shutout over the past week, which he did by making seven saves. He stopped a partial breakaway attempt from near the penalty spot in the first half to keep the match scoreless and maintained his composure in the second half, including making an 88th minute stop with a lunging effort through traffic.
Naeemy has played every minute in goal this season for CSU and leads the league in both goals against average (0.79) and save percentage (.792).
Cleveland State has not allowed more than one goal in five consecutive matches, its longest such stretch since 2016.
It is the fifth consecutive campaign in which at least one Viking has earned Defensive Player of the Week honors.
Cleveland State will open a three-match road trip Saturday night as it travels to Green Bay.