The Radford men’s soccer team got back on track with a 2-0 week, thanks in large part to Kieran Roberts who has been named Big South Co-Attacking Player of the Week and Amadou Macky Diop who has been selected as Big South Freshman of the Week, the conference office announced Monday afternoon.
After some early season struggles to begin 2018, Roberts looked like his old self this week. The senior forward scored the game-winning goal in Radford’s 4-1 rout of West Virginia on Tuesday before scoring twice – including the game-winning goal yet again – in a 4-2 victory at Longwood.
A native of Bournemouth, England, Roberts fired 15 total shots and 10 shots on goal across 161 minutes this week after taking just seven shots in the first five games of the season.
“Kieran has played well all year and it is great to see him finding goals again,” said head coach Bryheem Hancock. “It was a big week for the team and everyone in our locker room helped contribute to our success.”
Diop has been called upon to start for the Highlanders as a freshman and he showed exactly why this week. First against the Mountaineers, he scored two goals and added an assist for five points on six shots. Then he followed that up with one goal and one assist on six shots against the Lancers.
After back-to-back superb performances, he ranks T-4th in the Big South in points (10), T-3rd in goals (4) and T-3rd in shots attempted (22).
“Amadou is still settling into the college soccer environment, but he had a successful week and helped our group take some good steps forward,” Hancock added.
Radford improved to 2-5 on the year and now owns the second-best RPI in the Big South at 154.
–RU athletics
