Akpan Named Top Drawer Soccer National Player of the Week; Crimson Moves Up to No. 6 in National Ranking
Pictured: Senior Andre Akpan tallied his third two-goal game
of the season Saturday at Fairfield.
Photo courtesy: DSPics.com.
Akpan Named Top Drawer Soccer National
Player of the Week
Akpan Honored on College Soccer News
National Team of the Week
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Harvard forward Andre Akpan
has been honored as the Top Drawer Soccer National Player
of the Week, the publication announced Monday morning. Akpan was
also named to the College Soccer News National Team of the
Week, as he helped the Crimson improve to 5-0 on the season with a
4-1 victory at Fairfield Saturday.
With its fifth-straight win to start the season, Harvard is one of
five remaining teams in the nation with a perfect record
(Maryland-Baltimore County, Akron, Monmouth and Stetson). The
Crimson has moved up to No. 6 in the Soccer America
national poll, tying the highest ranking in program history, which
occurred in 2007. Harvard appears No. 9 in the College Soccer
News poll and is ranked No. 18 in the Top Drawer
Soccer poll. Harvard’s 5-0 start also matches the best
start for the program since the 2007 season when the Crimson opened
with a 6-0 mark.
Against Fairfield, Akpan, a senior-captain of the Crimson, started
the scoring with an unassisted tally in the 33rd minute and later
assisted on Brian Rogers’s game-winning goal at 56:12.
Exactly three minutes later, Akpan gave Harvard a 3-0 lead when he
buried a shot after receiving a pass from teammate Robert Millock.
A native of Grand Prairie, Texas, Akpan finished the contest
against the Stags with five points and has now scored two goals in
three games this season. Akpan currently ranks second in the nation
with 3.20 points per game, having score six goals and handed out
four assists for 16 points.
He is Harvard’s all-time leading scorer with 113 points,
having tallied 41 goals and handed out 31 assists over the course
of his career. Akpan is now only six tallies shy of tying Chris
Ohiri ’64 for first in program history in goals.
The Crimson visits New Hampshire in a non-conference
matchup Wednesday, Sept. 23 at 4 p.m.
