Contreras earns second-career Heart Defensive Player of the Week following two-win week

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A pair of favorable results kept the Clarke University men's soccer team out of the loss column and a big part was the play of sophomore goalkeeper Fernando Contreras as the El Salvador native was named the Heart of America Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week on Monday.

Contreras played all 180 minutes for the Pride in a 1-0 win over Judson University on Thursday and a 3-1 win over Iowa Wesleyan University on Sunday as he only let up the one goal on 11 shots on goal over that span.

The 1-0 win against Judson was the first individual shutout of the season for Contreras but his second overall as he and Jan Paule combined for a shutout in their opener against Loras back on Aug. 28. Contreras made seven saves on his way to the victory against Judson that saw Clarke play a man down for a majority of the time then even played two men down during the second half.

His three-save effort against Iowa Wesleyan moved his individual record to 2-0 and Clarke's to 3-0 for their best start to begin in the NAIA era for CU men's soccer.

Contreras receives the Heart Defensive Player of the Week nod for the second time in his career as he did so last year on Sept. 20, 2021.

The Pride will be away from game action for just over a week when they start Heart play against Mount Mercy University at home on Sept. 13 for a 7:30 p.m. CT scheduled kickoff.