Oct. 10, 2005

PARK RIDGE, Ill. - For the second time in the 2005 season, the Indiana men's soccer team swept the Big Ten Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week awards. Junior midfielder Josh Tudela was named the Offensive Player of the Week, while sophomore goalkeeper Chris Munroe earned the Defensive Player of the Week honor. The duo earned the accolades after helping the Hoosiers to a pair of road victories over Louisville, 2-0, and Michigan, 2-0. During the opening week of the season (Sept. 5), senior Brian Plotkin and sophomore Greg Stevning made it a sweep of the weekly Big Ten honors for IU.

Tudela and Munroe are the fourth and fifth Hoosiers to earn the Big Ten Players of the Week this season. It also is the first Big Ten honor of their careers.

Tudela scored three of the four Hoosier goals in the pair of wins. On Oct. 5 at Louisville, the Evansville, Ind., native scored both Hoosier goals. He headed in a corner kick in the 19th minute from freshman Lee Nguyen before bending a free kick around the wall to ice the match in the 82nd minute. Against Michigan with the Hoosiers leading, 1-0, he went far post from 18 yards off an assist from senior midfielder Jordan Chirico, clinching a 2-0 win.

"Josh has been playing exceptionally well for us," Indiana head coach Mike Freitag said. "He has always been key in our play offensively, but this year, he is a scoring machine. He has a great engine and works extremely hard. He is a role model for young players."

With his two goals, Tudela moved into a tie with junior forward Jacob Peterson for the team lead with five tallies on the season. In fact, Tudela's five goals this season are the first regular season markers of his career. Coming into his junior campaign, Tudela had scored two career goals for IU both in the NCAA Tournament. He also ranks second on the team in points with 12.

Munroe notched his fifth and sixth shutouts of the season against U of L and U-M. The Indianapolis, Ind., native made four saves, all in the second half, to preserve the clean sheet against the Cardinals. In conference action against the Wolverines, Munroe made a pair of saves in recording the shutout. With IU clinging to a 1-0 advantage, he made a diving save to his left pushing out a bending shot from Michigan senior forward Trai Blanks.

"Chris made some good saves for us against Louisville and Michigan," Freitag said. "We usually don't expect our goalkeepers to make a large number of saves with the style of defense we play, but we need one or two big saves a game. Chris has been able to do that for us this season. He had two years learning behind Jay (Nolly), who is now in the MLS, and I feel this is only the tip of the iceberg with him."

The pair of shutouts lowered Munroe's Big Ten-leading goals against average of 0.45. That number ranks eighth nationally. He has also been the leader of a Hoosier defense that ranks first nationally in shutout percentage. IU has blanked eight of its 11 opponents this season.

The Hoosiers conclude their four-match road trip with a pair of conference affairs over the weekend. Indiana travels to Madison, Wis., to battle the Badgers at 8 p.m. EDT on Friday, Oct. 14. On Sunday, Oct. 16, the Hoosiers will square off with Northwestern at 3 p.m.