SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento State senior forward Zac Giles was named The Big West Offensive Player of the Week for a third time this season, following a record-setting performance in a crucial road victory for the Hornets last week.

Giles becomes only the second Sacramento State men's soccer player to earn three Big West weekly honors in a single season along with goalkeeper James Del Curto, who was named the league's defensive player of the week three times in 2016. Giles is also the third Hornet to win three career weekly awards from the Big West along with Del Curto and goalkeeper Edgar Guerra, who twice was named the league's freshman of the week in 2022 and picked up a defensive player of the week award in 2023.

Held to a single shot attempt against No. 21 Oregon State three nights earlier, Giles bounced back quickly in the team's 5-1 victory over the Matadors accounting for four second-half goals on eight total shots (five on frame), including the game-tying and game-winning scores eight minutes apart.

The four goals are tied for the most in a match at the NCAA Division I level this season along with Western Michigan's Vitor Geromel, Portland's David Ajagbe, and Indiana's Collins Oduro.

With his side trailing 1-0 following a first-half CSUN penalty, Giles brought the Hornets level in the 51st minute with a perfectly placed shot to the left post to make it 1-1. Nine minutes later, he gave Sacramento State the lead for good with his second of the night in the 59th, then added scored in the 80th and 86th minutes to complete both the hat trick and the record.

Giles' eight shots marked the fourth time this year with at least that many in a match, joining back-to-back nine-shot performances at San Diego State (Sept. 11) and Pacific (Sept. 17) and another eight-shot performance against Gonzaga (Oct. 7).

Entering the final match of the regular season, Giles now has a Big West-best 10 goals to go with five assists for 25 points, becoming the first Hornet with double-digit goals since Donovan Sessoms had 10 in 2024 and posting the most points by a Sacramento State player since Chris Bettencourt had 27 in 2010.

His 25 points rank 10th on the school's single-season list — the first player to break onto that list since Bettencourt's 2010 campaign — while Giles' 10 goals are tied for ninth on the single-season chart. Following his eight shots, he now is tied with Max Alvarez for the most shots in a season in school history with 66, while his 36 shots on goal this year rank seventh.

Still within striking distance of a berth in the Big West Championship, the Hornets close out the regular season on Saturday (Oct. 31) at 3 p.m. against Cal State Fullerton. Sacramento State will honor its departing senior class prior to kick off at approximately 2:45 p.m.