OKLAHOMA CITY – After pitching a pair of shutouts last week against Oklahoma Baptist and the University of Science & Arts, sophomore goalkeeper Austen Parker from the 23rd-ranked Mid-America Christian men's soccer team was named the Sooner Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week on Monday.
Parker recorded his fourth shutout of the season in a 9-0 victory over the Bison on Sept. 23, tallying five saves in the victory. It was the Evangels' first victory over Oklahoma Baptist since 2013 and was also the only time in the program's history that MACU shutout OBU.
The Piedmont, Okla. native put together another outstanding performance against Science & Arts, tying a season-high six saves for his fifth shutout victory of the season while holding the Drovers to their first scoreless match of the year.
The shutout mark tied Liam Ward's mark set last season for the third-most shutouts in program history, putting Parker just one back of Austin Custar's second-best mark set in 2010 and three away from tying Jakob O'Meara-Gill's program record of eight set during the 2017 season.
Five weeks into the season, Parker's five shutouts currently ranks third in the NAIA while his 0.74 goals allowed average is 17th in the NAIA.
Parker is just the fifth MACU player since 2006 to receive the SAC Defensive Player of the Week award, joining Ward and Zane Bourne as well as O'Meara-Gill and Tyler McIntosh who earned the award twice.
Mid-America Christian will be back in-action tomorrow as the Evangels will travel to Plainview, Texas to take on Wayland Baptist for a 6 p.m. match.
