CLEVELAND, Ohio – Senior Gabriel Pewu of the Cleveland State University men's soccer team was selected as the Nike Horizon League Offensive Player of the Week as announced in a league release Monday afternoon.
It's the first award of the season for Pewu and the second of his career. He becomes the third Viking to win a weekly honor from the league this season, joining Omeed Naeemy and Jannis Schmidt.
Pewu had a noteworthy offensive week as the Vikings went up against Cincinnati and Ohio State on their Horizon League bye week.
Pewu factored into four goals last week and played a major role in Cleveland State beating Ohio State for the second straight season. He began the week by tallying a second-half goal at Cincinnati that helped the Vikings come back from a two-goal deficit to force overtime. The senior saved his best for Saturday against the Big Ten foe as he was involved in all three goals in a 3-2 win at Ohio State. He headed in the opening goal and assisted on the second strike to give CSU a 2-0 lead. After Ohio State came back to tie the match, Pewu blasted home what proved to the game-winning strike fewer than three minutes later.
Pewu led all Horizon League players in goals (3) and points (7) accumulated against Division I opponents this past week. He is now second in the league in goals per game as his half dozen tallies this season have tied his career high.
Cleveland State is one of two schools to have multiple student-athletes earn the league's weekly offensive honor this season.
Cleveland State will close a three-match non-conference swing Tuesday night as it welcomes Duquesne.