2004 Men's Soccer Players of the Week

May 10, 2004
Mike Saraceni, Middlebury
(Senior, Attacker - N. Syracuse, N.Y.)
Saraceni helped lead the Panthers to their fourth consecutive NESCAC Championship with four goals and three assists in the title game against Wesleyan. The senior was in on seven of 12 goals in the 12-7 championship win, while dishing out two assists in the semifinal victory over Amherst. He leads the team to its eighth NCAA Tournament appearance this weekend with 26 goals and 35 assists for 61 points.

May 3, 2004
Bryan Griffin, Tufts
(Junior, Attacker - West Islip, N.Y.)
The league's leading scorer had eight goals and seven assists for 15 points in three games (5 points per game). In the process, Griffin set a Tufts single-season scoring record with 73 points and counting (40 goals, 33 assists). Griffin figured in two-thirds of the Jumbos' goals (4g, 2a) in a 9-7 victory over Connecticut College in the first round of the NESCAC Tournament on Sunday. He also had three goals and three assists in a key regular-season win at Wesleyan on Wednesday.

April 26, 2004
Matt Wheeler, Wesleyan
(Junior, Goalkeeper - Darien, Conn.)
During two NESCAC wins this week, including an 8-5 win at Williams to give the Cardinals their second straight Little Three title, Wheeler stopped 19 shots while allowing just seven goals in 112 minutes of action, giving him a 3.75 goals-against average and a .731 save percentage. In 52 minutes against Williams, Wheeler let in just one goal while making 11 saves.

April 19, 2004
Grant White, Bowdoin
(Senior, Goalkeeper - Charlottesville, Va.)
White posted a career-high 18 saves, including eight in the pivotal fourth quarter, as Bowdoin defeated Middlebury 11-10 in overtime. White helped the Polar Bears snap the Panthers' 18-game NESCAC regular-season winning streak and give Bowdoin their second win over Middlebury in the past three seasons.

Luke Chicco, Tufts
(Junior, Goalkeeper - Merrick, N.Y.)
Chicco stopped 65.1 percent (28/43) of the shots he faced this week in an overtime loss to Middlebury and a win over Colby. He had 15 saves at Middlebury in his best performance of the season with the Jumbos losing in the final seconds of overtime. He then made 13 saves at Colby, where the four goals he allowed were the fewest by a Tufts keeper in a NESCAC game since April 2002. His goals against average for the week was 7.26.

April 12, 2004
Joshua Cleaver, Colby
(Senior, Attack - Kennett Square, Pa.)
Cleaver had seven goals and four assists in victories over NESCAC opponents this week. Cleaver had five goals in a 10-9 victory over Bates on Wednesday and then had two goals and four assists in a 7-5 win against Trinity on Saturday. Cleaver had a hand in the Mules' first six goals as Colby opened up a 6-0 lead on Trinity. In all, Cleaver factored into 11 of Colby's 17 goals (65 percent) on the week.

April 5, 2004
Cushing Donelan, Amherst
(Junior, Goalie - Noroton, Conn.)
Donelan started off the week collecting nine saves in Wednesday's 7-6 win over visiting Bates. He then had one of his best games on Saturday, finishing with 11 saves in a 10-4 win over visiting Colby, including a spectacular point-blank stop on a Matt Roland shot midway through the final quarter. Donelan leads the NESCAC in both save percentage and goals against average.

March 29, 2004
Connor Fitzgerald, Bowdoin
(Sophomore, Attack - Hingham, Mass.)
Fitzgerald had another stellar week, coming within one assist of the school record in a win against Union before posting 10 points in a win against Wheaton. Fitzgerald scored twice and assisted on seven goals in Bowdoin's 17-8 victory over Union. The sophomore then scored four times against Wheaton and added six assists to lift the Polar Bears to their fifth-straight win to open the season.

March 22, 2004
Connor Fitzgerald, Bowdoin
(Sophomore, Attack - Hingham, Mass.)
Fitzgerald scored six goals and assisted on two others in a pair of victories last week. He scored four goals and had two assists in the Polar Bears' upset win against 17th-ranked St. Lawrence before scoring twice more in a victory over Hamilton.

March 15, 2004
Curtis Kahn, Trinity
(Freshman, Attacker - Cohasset, Mass.)
Kahn scored a game-high four goals in his collegiate debut, including the game-winner in the second overtime in a 9-8 win against Bates.

Bryan Griffin, Tufts
(Junior, Attacker - West Islip, N.Y.)
Griffin, the returning NESCAC and New England Player of the Year, scored four goals and set up six others as Tufts opened its season with a 16-4 win at MIT. Griffin scored the game's first goal 50 seconds in, then scored the first two goals of the second half to give the Jumbos a commanding 9-2 advantage. The six assists tie for second in a single-game on the Tufts all-time list.