Men's Soccer Duo Sweeps Weekly Honors

Junior Anthony Santaga and freshman Viltsu Tuumi paced the Hawks on their respective sides of the pitch on Saturday evening, helping the men's soccer team earn three crucial points in America East Conference play by way of a 1-0 win at Binghamton. As a result of their clutch performances, the duo swept the league's weekly awards as Santaga was tabbed Player of the Week and Tuumi was named the Rookie of the Week.

The distinction for Santaga is the first of his career while Tuumi's honor is the second for him this season and is the fourth time this year that a Hawk has received the Rookie of the Week accolade. Tuumi first received the merit on Oct. 1 while classmate Javoni Simms claimed the award on back-to-back weeks (Sept. 10 and Sept. 17).

With the win, the Hawks improved their league record to 1-3-1 and leveled their overall mark to 7-7-1. The victory also snapped a five-game winless stretch (0-4-1) and was the team's first win at the Bearcats Sports Complex since 2002.

Santaga generated the only offense of the match in the ninth minute after putting the finishing touches on a corner kick to lift the Hawks to the one-goal victory and their first win in league play. The goal, which came off a feed from freshman defender Simon Turesson, was his third game-winning tally. A forward, Santaga paces Hartford's offense with 17 points, which is tied for fourth in the conference, and has handed out a team-best three assists. In addition, he is second on the team in goals (7), which ranks fifth among league leaders.

Tuumi was solid defensively on Saturday after matching a career-high in saves for the shutout win, the third of his career. For the third time this season, the goalkeeper rejected nine shots, which ties a personal-best number that was established Hartford's conference opener, a 1-1 draw at Boston Univ. on Sept. 29. Tuumi has played every minute between the posts for the Hawks and owns a .769 save percentage and 1.26 goals-against average.

With just one week to go in the regular season, the America East standings could not be much tighter. Each of the league's eight teams is separated by just seven points and there are just three points between the fourth and eighth-place squads.