ORLANDO, Fla. – After scoring four goals against FGCU on Saturday, Alessandro Campoy of the UCF men's soccer team has been named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Week. Kevin Andrews landed on the honor roll for his two assists against FGCU.
There were many impressive aspects about Campoy's performance, perhaps the most impressive being that it took just 43 minutes to collect his hat trick. He opened the scoring in just the fifth minute of the match, cashing in on a rebound from a Nick Taylor shot in the fifth minute. Taylor had a role in Campoy's second goal as well, sending a corner into the box that was taken care of with a beautiful header. Just before the half, Campoy tallied his third score of the match. Gino Vivi dropped the ball off for Andrews, who whipped the ball into the box where a charging Campoy was able to bury the chance. He finished his afternoon with a goal in the 60th minute with a helper from Mauricio Villalobos Vega.
Four goals in a match by a single player is not a common feat by any means. In fact, Saturday's performance is the first time this century that a Knights has collected four goals in a game. The last time a member of the Black and Gold scored four or more goals in a match was in 1998 when Heikki Ritvanen (1996-99) accomplished the feat twice, scoring five goals against Belmont as well as Coastal Carolina.
Campoy becomes one of four players in UCF history to score four or more goals in a match. Ritvanen tallied four or more goals five times in his career, grabbing two four goal performances and scored five goals three times. Rony Francois (1980-83) and Randy DeShield (1976-79) also tallied five goal games during their time as Knights.
Campoy's four goals made him the 19th Knight to ever record a hat trick and was the 40th hat trick in UCF's history. Ritvanen is responsible for 10 of those hat tricks while DeShield owns seven and Francois tallied two. Campoy is among elite company as Ritvanen and Francois are two of UCF's nine All-Americans.
Campoy is the only player in NCAA Division I men's soccer to score four goals in a match this season. The hat trick is the second of his career, previously scoring three goals against FAU on Sep. 14, 2019.
Andrews was named to The American's honor roll after tallying a pair of assists against FGCU. The assists were the first of Andrews' career as the true freshman is already starting to make an impact early in his career.
UP NEXT
The Black and Gold will begin American Athletic Conference play as they visit Memphis on Sep. 18 at 9 p.m. ET.
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