NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – The Atlantic 10 Conference selected Duquesne sophomore Maxi Hopfer as the league’s Men’s Soccer Offensive Player of the Week while Saint Louis senior Carlos Tofern earned Defensive honors. Additionally, Dayton freshman Basit Umar slid in for his first-ever Rookie of the Week laurels. The awards were announced Monday following the conclusion of the eighth week of contests played Oct. 10-16.
 
Hopfer, a forward out of Styria, Austria, capped an eight-point week with a brace to lift first-place Duquesne to a 2-1 win over Davidson on Saturday night. The European import opened the week with a goal and two assists in just 50 minutes of DU's 5-1 non-conference win over St. Bonaventure. Later, against the Wildcats, the sophomore logged the key pair of goals at the 22nd and 61st minutes, good for the fourth brace of his collegiate career as the Dukes managed to hang on to first place within league play.
 
Hailing from Hamburg, Germany, Tofern held opposing offenses scoreless across 135:00 of action of a two-match stretch for the Billikens. The senior logged four total saves in the victory over George Washington, good for his second shutout of the season, and kept Blackburn off the board during his 45 minutes on the pitch as well.
 
Umar scored a goal in both games this week as Dayton earned a hard-fought 2-2 draw against No. 2 Kentucky on the road Wednesday before later topping VCU via a final 3-1 mark on Saturday. A product of Kumasi, Ghana, the freshman midfielder paced the Flyers with seven total shots, four of which came on goal.


PREVIOUS MEN'S SOCCER WEEKLY AWARD WINNERS
 

DATE	OFFENSIVE	DEFENSIVE	ROOKIE
Aug. 29	Andy Sanchez, UD	Torge Witteborg, DUQ	Gabriel Kringen, UD
Sept. 6	Kevin Castaneda, URI John Klein, SLU	Alberto Suarez, SLU	Max Hinke, URI
Sept. 12	Matthew Wrobel, SBU	Domenic Nascimben, DUQ	Ask Ekeland, DUQ Nathan Simes, FOR
Sept. 19	John Klein, SLU	Domenic Nascimben, DUQ	Nathan Simes, FOR
Sept. 26	Manny Day, UD	Dario Caetano, UD	Denis Krioutchenkov, DAV
Oct. 3	Daniel Espeleta, FOR	Logan Brown, UD	Denis Krioutchenkov, DAV
Oct. 10	Patrick Agyemang, URI	Luis Ludosan, SJU	Jean-Claude Bilé, VCU
Oct. 17	Maxi Hopfer, DUQ	Carlos Tofern, SLU	Basit Umar, UD