ST. PAUL, Minn. – On Monday afternoon the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) announced their weekly award for outstanding performance, UMAC Player of the Week. Men's soccer goalkeeper Gabe Hartwig (Eagle River, Wis./Northland Pines) was awarded the Men's Soccer Defensive Player of the Week award following a fantastic week in net for the Rams.

Last week the Rams went on the road Wednesday and Saturday to face Northwestern and Martin Luther. In the contest against Northwestern, Hartwig had 7 saves and recorded a shutout against tough offensive competition in the Eagles. Hartwig's play in goal kept momentum in favor of the Rams to rally behind and come away with the 1-0 win in St. Paul. This past Saturday in New Ulm, Minn. the Rams faced a rematch against the Knights. The game exchanged opportunities for both teams but would end in regulation with a tie. However, going into overtime Hartwig stepped up once more to protect the net and finish the game with another clean sheet. Against Martin Luther, Hartwig had 12 saves to bring his total saves for last week to 19 and finished the week 1-0-1 against tough UMAC opponents.

Currently, Hartwig leads all but one category among UMAC goalkeepers. Through 12 games Hartwig has the lowest goals against average (.683) of any other goalkeeper in the UMAC. He also leads in save percentage (.892) and shutouts for the year (6). The only goalkeeping category Hartwig doesn't lead the UMAC in is saves per game which translates to the Rams defense working together to protect the net and limit opponents to shots on goal, or opportunities for saves by Hartwig.

Head Coach Jake Smith provided insight on coaching the UMAC Player of the Week, "Gabe is a self-less, hard-working, and humble athlete. He is unlikely to enjoy any praise and always deflects to his defensive line. He's a leader  and has the respect of everyone on the team."

The UMAC Player of the Week award is announced every Monday afternoon by the conference office. Prior to announcement each coach or sports information director will nominate players based on the previous week's performance. Sports information directors in that sport vote for the best performance and then the award is announced.

This is Hartwig's first career UMAC Player of the Week award. Off the field Hartwig is an accounting and finance major with career goals of working in the business field with his father.

North Central men's soccer will have two home games following last week's away games. On Tuesday afternoon, the Rams will player Crown College at 1:00 p.m. Then in celebration of North Central University's Homecoming the Rams will play Northland College on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. A list of Homecoming festivities are listed here. Live stats and video will be provided for both home games which can be found here.