MIAMI (Sept. 23, 2019) - The FIU men's soccer team swept the Conference USA weekly awards, as on Monday the league office announced sophomore Caleb Franke and senior Nick O'Callaghan as C-USA Offensive Player of the Week and Defensive Player of the week, respectively.
Franke and O'Callaghan helped the Panthers remain undefeated and post a 1-0-1 record over the past week, as FIU earned a 1-1 draw versus North Florida on Tuesday, Sept. 17 before shutting out Old Dominion by a score of 5-0 on Saturday, Sept. 21.
Franke stole the show in the second period of Saturday's match against ODU, as the sophomore exploded for three goals in a span of less than 10 minutes to help FIU pull away from the Monarchs. Moments after checking into the game in the 74th minute, Franke scored his third goal of the season to put the Panthers up 3-0 over ODU. Franke struck again in the 83rd minute as he fielded a beautiful cross from Anthony Cousins, Jr. and fired the ball into the back of the net, and merely a minute later Franke tapped in his third goal of the night after receiving a great pass from Stephen Afrifa in front of a wide open ODU net. Franke's hat-trick marks the second time this season that a Panther has accomplished the feat, as Alessandro Campoy did the same a week prior against FAU on Saturday, Sept. 14. Franke finished with a career-high six points in the match, and suddenly finds himself tied for first in C-USA with five goals on the season. Franke's 10 points are also tied for second-most in C-USA behind Campoy's 12 points.
O'Callaghan logged 200 minutes total during the past week and helped FIU hold its two opponents to one combined goal. He played a full 110 minutes for the Panthers' backline during a double over-time draw with UNF (1-1). O' Callaghan played a full 90 the following match against ODU and helped the Panthers post a clean sheet, marking the first shutout by the Panthers this season. Last time FIU posted a shutout was on November 16, 2017 in the first round of the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament, when the Panthers defeated Omaha by a score of 2-0. O'Callaghan has been an iron man this season for the Panthers as he ranks second on the team with 597 minutes, behind goalkeeper Daniel Gagliardi. The reliable defenseman has not subbed out of a match for five consecutive games dating back to the season's third matchup against Jacksonville University.
THESE PANTHERS GO WAY BACK
Both Franke and O'Callaghan hail from the region of Central Florida and were members of the Orlando City Development Academy together in 2014 before arriving at FIU. Franke — a product of Olympia High School — came to the Panthers as a freshman in 2018 and appeared in 16 games while making eight starts last year. The sophomore has already shattered his 2018 point total after finishing with one point in his first campaign. O'Callaghan is a fifth-year senior from Winter Springs High School who also joined the program in 2018, after spending three years as a highly productive defender at Elon University. He logged two points and a score for the Panthers in one appearance last year.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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