Irvine, CA—The Big West announced today that UC Riverside forward Norberto Ochoa and goalkeeper Vincent Morales are the conference's Men's Soccer Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week for matches played from September 7-13

Ochoa scored goals in the 38th, 56th and 59th minutes against San Francisco to give the Highlanders a 3-0 win. They were the first goals of his UC Riverside career, and marked the second hat trick in the Division I history of the program. Teammate Michael Salazar recorded the only other hat trick in UCR's D-I history, doing so on August 29, 2014 against Pacific. Ochoa was also named to the College Soccer News National Team of the Week.

Morales earned his first two starts as a collegian this week, playing all 90 minutes between the pipes in the 3-0 victory over the Dons, and holding #8 UCLA to just one goal in a 2-1, overtime victory. He recorded five sheets in each win, and now boasts a goals against average of 0.43 for the year.

The Highlanders travel to Santa Clara this Friday for a 7:30 pm kick off against the Broncos, and then head to St. Mary's, Sunday, for a 3 pm match against the Gaels.