UC Santa Barbara junior Chris Pontius, who scored four of five Gaucho goals in a pair of wins, is the Soccer America Men’s Player of the Week for games played Oct. 1-7.
On Wednesday, the Yorba Linda, Calif., native scored a career-high three goals in a 4-0 win over UC Irvine before 4,402 fans, the largest midweek crowd of the season, and a nationally televised audience.
Pontius came up big again in the Gauchos’ match against Cal State Fullerton Saturday, heading in the game’s only goal on a ball from Alfonso Motagalvan in the 78th minute.
Pontius has now scored a goal in Santa Barbara’s last four matches and leads the Big West with eight goals through 10 games. He scored a total of four career goals prior to his junior campaign this season.