FMU soccer duo earns PBC Defensive Honors

Francis Marion University senior defender Willie Hunt and sophomore goalkeeper Clark Richeson have been selected as the Peach Belt Conference men's soccer "Defensive Player of the Week" and "Goalkeeper of the Week" for the week ending Oct. 5.

The two helped lead the Patriots to a pair of shutouts last week: a 2-0 conference win at UNC Pembroke and 0-0 home tie with 15th-ranked Lincoln Memorial University.

The Patriots are in the midst of a school-record defensive scoreless streak of 410:15 that spans five matches, including a record-tying four consecutive shutouts.

Hunt, a native of Greer, S.C., anchored a defensive backline that limited LMU to one shot-on-goal and none by the team's top two scorers who had combined for 11 goals in 11 previous matches. He nearly won that contest, but his sharp header of a corner kick in the 23rd minute sailed just over the crossbar.   Earlier in the week, he helped limit UNCP to three shots-on-goal, only one of which came from two of the PBC's top point producers.

Richeson, a native of Mansfield, Texas, posted his second and third consecutive complete-match shutouts last week, and in the process set a new team record for scoreless minutes played in goal (390:27) - surpassing Mike Cruikshank's old mark of 383:20 set over the 1997 and 1998 seasons.   He faced 21 shots in the two matches and made four saves.  He leads the PBC in minutes played and has moved up to fifth in goals against average (1.66) and is second in saves (41).

The 4-4-3 Patriots return to action on Saturday when they play host to Mars Hill College at 1 p.m. in a non-conference match-up.  FMU is currently tied for second place in the Peach Belt with a 2-0-1 mark, two points behind leader Lander University.

Hunt is a product of Eastside High School, while Richeson was an All-District and All-Region goalkeeper at Summit High School.