Coastal Carolina men’s soccer forward Ashton Bennett has been named the Big South Attacking Player of the Week for the third time this season. On Monday, Bennett was named TopDrawerSoccer.com National Player of the Week after scoring two goals and a pair of assists leading the 13th-ranked Coastal Carolina to its ninth straight win last week.
The Chanticleers (13-2, 6-0 BSC) moved into the top spot in the NCAA in total goals scored (43), second in scoring offense with 2.87 goals per game, fourth in winning percentage (.867) and 35th in team goals against average (.86).
Coastal has also advanced three spots to 13th in the SoccerAmerica Poll for its highest ranking of the year. The squad also moved up two spots to 17th in the CollegeSoccerNews poll and up three spots to 17th in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America rankings while holding the 21st spot in the latest RPI.
Individually, Bennett moved into first place with 37 total points, tied for first with 16 goals, second in points per game (2.47), sixth in goals per game and 65th in total assists (5). Bennett has recorded two hat tricks this year and four multi-goal games. He has also recorded two multi-assist games this year while ranking 96th in assist per game (.33).
Bennett scored his first goal of the week on a penalty kick against Wofford College, which proved to be the eventual game-winner in a 2-1 victory on Tuesday. In the Friday’s match against VMI, Bennett was responsible for setting up the opening goal after feeding a pass to Cyprian Hedrick for an early 1-0 lead. He later scored the eventual game winning goal on a header off the assist from Ricky Garbanzo. After VMI cut the lead to 2-1, Bennett assisted Noah Anthony for the third goal of the afternoon. Coastal defeated the Keydets 4-1 to remain perfect in the Big South Conference (6-0). Bennett now has six game-winning goals this year.
Coastal travels to Rock Hill, S.C., to face the Winthrop Eagles Saturday, Oct. 29 at 2 p.m.
