GRINNELL, Iowa — The Midwest Conference announced its weekly soccer award winners today, and Knox College men's soccer swept the honors with forward Kestervens Dera being named the Offensive Performer of the Week and goalkeeper Nicolas Lantzendorffer the Defensive Performer of the Week. This is the third selection for Lantzendorffer this fall and fifth of his career, while Dera is earning the recognition for the first time.
A sophomore from Palm Bay, Florida, Dera played sparingly in the first game of the week, a 2-1 win over Cornell College — the first league win for the Prairie Fire this fall — as he was returning from an injury. But he came back with a vengeance on Saturday in a 3-0 victory at Beloit, scoring all three Knox goals. It was the first hat trick for a Prairie Fire player in two years and gives him a team-leading five goals on the year despite playing in only half the games thus far.
Lantzendorffer, a fifth-year from Guatemala City, Guatemala, came away with the two victories in goal, allowing just the one tally. First, he made three saves in the win over the Rams last Tuesday, followed by his third shutout of the season and 16th of his career in the road win over the Buccaneers. On the season, Lantzendorffer leads the MWC in save percentage (.789) and ranks third in goals against average (1.40) as well as saves per game (4.29).
- Lantzendorffer first earned this award as a sophomore (Oct. 4, 2021), then garnered another last year on Sept. 25.
- He took home the prize at the outset of the season on Sept. 3 and again four weeks later.
- Knox has had four of this year's weekly winners; no other MWC school has more than two.
Knox (5-7-2, 2-2-1 MWC) next will host Monmouth College (3-8-3, 1-3-1 MWC) on Wednesday, Oct. 23 at 4 p.m. on Jorge Prats Field. Live video and stats of the contest will be accessible through the official athletics website of Knox College, PrairieFire.Knox.edu.
