GREENSBORO, N.C. – Senior midfielder Yoshiya Okawa and junior goalkeeper Tim Baerwalde of the UNC Greensboro (UNCG) men's soccer team earned weekly honors from TopDrawerSoccer and The Southern Conference (SoCon), respectively, the organization and league announced Tuesday.

Okawa was named to the TopDrawerSoccer Team of the Week while Baerwalde earned the SoCon Defensive Player of the Week.

Okawa was a constant threat to score for the Spartans last week. He scored three goals, including the first two in an eventual 3-0 victory over Radford last Tuesday before scoring once on a free kick in Saturday's 1-0 win over Furman. By the end of the week, Okawa was three-for-three on his shots and now leads UNCG in goals (5) and points (13).
 
This marks Okawa's first time being named to the TopDrawerSoccer Team of the Week.

"Thank you to everyone who helped me earn this," Okawa said. "I look forward to helping keep our success going!"

On the other end of the pitch, Baerwalde made three saves in his Spartan debut to earn his fourth collegiate clean sheet. He made one stop in the first half before turning aside a pair of shots in the final 45 minutes.

"From the first second I got here, my team, my coaches and everyone around UNCG made me feel like I was home," said Baerwalde. "This award was earned by all of my teammates and especially the defense in front of me. I really enjoy spending time with these guys on and off the field."

This marks Baerwalde's first weekly honor from the SoCon and the fourth for the Spartans. Forward Enzo Dovlo and goalkeeper Seth Wilson earned both SoCon Player of the Week honors to open the season on Aug. 27 before Wilson earned SoCon Defensive Player of the Week again on Sept. 17.

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The Spartans conclude a three-game home stretch by hosting Elon tonight (Tuesday) at 7:00 p.m. at the UNCG Soccer Stadium.
 
All regular season home games are FREE admission. The match will feature a t-shirt giveaway for the first 100 UNCG students. Additionally, there will be buy one, get one FREE hot dogs, a food truck in attendance and the first 50 Fusion kids wearing their jersey will receive a FREE mini soccer ball!