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University of Massachusets Athletics
Deren Earns Two Player of the Week Honors
October 07, 2002 | Men's Soccer
Oct. 7, 2002
AMHERST, Mass. - Jeff Deren (Chicopee, Mass.) was named College Soccer News National Player of the Week and Atlantic 10 Player of the Week following a five-goal weekend, it was announced today.
Deren, a senior forward, led the Minutemen to two impressive Atlantic 10 victories over the weekend. On Friday, Deren scored the game-winning goal midway through the first half, in helping UMass to a 2-0 win over Xavier in the A-10 opener. Deren then broke out on Sunday with a four-goal performance in a 5-2 win over Dayton. The senior scored a goal in the first half, then added three more in a span of 10 minutes of the second half to score his first career hat trick and become only the eighth player in school history to notch four goals in a game.
"Jeff undoubtedly had a great weekend," said UMass Head Coach Sam Koch. "Anytime you score five goals in a weekend, you are doing something right. You also have to give credit to the players getting him the ball with an opportunity to score. He has been well-supported by his teammates with great balls to finish, and they are putting the ball in places for him to score."
"It was a great weekend for our team too," added Koch. "Anytime you can win two games in the A-10 and get off to the start we did is very encouraging for our entire team."
The Minutemen are on a four-game winning streak and are 6-4-0 overall and 2-0-0 in the Atlantic 10. The 2-0 start is the best start in the Atlantic 10 for UMass since 1996. Deren has scored a goal in each of the last four games and has scored 15 points (7 g, 1 a) during that span. He currently ranks sixth on the career scoring chart with 84 points (36 g, 12 a), but is only 12 points behind the all-time leader, Mike Butler. Deren also ranks third on the career goals scored list with 36, four behind Randy Jacobs' 40. He is 13th on the career assist chart with 12.
Deren was the 2001 Atlantic 10 Player of the Year after scoring 38 points (16 g, 6 a) during his junior year. He was named a 2002 Preseason All-American by College Soccer News and 2002 Preseason Atlantic 10 All-Conference.