SACRAMENTO, Calif. — After playing big roles in the Sacramento State men's soccer team's victory over UC Riverside, junior
Hiroshi Yang was named the Big West Offensive Player of the Week while freshman
Adrian Alvarenga was named the league's Rookie of the Week on Monday afternoon.
Both Yang and Alvarenga picked up their first career weekly awards from the conference office and became the second and third Hornet honorees this year alongside two-time offensive player of the week honoree
Zac Giles, who won the league's first award back on Aug. 24 and was also honored following his five-point performance on Sept. 21.
It marks the first time that Sacramento State has had players earn offensive weekly honors in the same season while Alvarenga became the seventh Hornet to earn weekly top rookie honors and the first since teammate
Angad Singh did so on Oct. 21, 2024. That was also the last time that Sacramento State has had two weekly winners in the same week since Singh and
Donovan Sessoms (Offensive Player of the Week) .
Yang tallied his first career brace in a 3-1 win over UC Riverside, staking the Hornets to an early 2-0 lead en route to the team's second straight victory. That performance came just a week after he had two assists in a 4-2 triumph over Pacific.
He scored his first in highlight reel fashion in the 28th minute, launching a wonder strike from about 35 yards out that looped over the new keeper's head before bottoming out, tucking under the crossbar, and settling in the right-side netting for the 1-0 lead.
It was eventually selected as the No. 9 play of the day on SportsCenter's SC Top 10 later that night.
Eleven minutes later, it was Yang once again as the Hornets drew a foul about 25 yards out, setting up a free kick for the home side from nearly straight on. Teammate
Zac Giles and Yang both stood over the ball, but it was Yang that took the attempt, sneaking a left-footed low liner inside the left post for a 2-0 advantage.
The two scores brought Yang's total to three, moving him into a tie for second on the team and a tie for fifth in The Big West entering the week. He also ranks tied for eighth in shots and tied for ninth in the conference in assists.
Alvarenga, meanwhile, helped hold things down at the other end of the field, entering the match as a reserve and playing 80 minutes against the Highlanders. He helped a defensive unit that limited UC Riverside to just eight shots overall and just two on goal in the victory.
Both totals were season lows for the defense as the eight shots allowed were the fewest in a match by an opponent since UC Davis was held to the same number of attempts in 2022 and the two shots on goal were the fewest since CSUN had only one in 2024.
Sacramento State opens Big West play with a pair of matches this week, traveling to the coast to take on UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday (Sept. 30) at 7 p.m., before coming home to host Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday (Oct. 3) at 4 p.m.
