Special Hat Trick Makes Villalobos Two-Time CCAA Player of the Week
Complete list of weekly winners >>>
A hat trick and three assists made Cal Poly Pomona senior midfielder Jimmie Villalobos the recipient of a second CCAA Player of the Week award on the season for Oct. 21-27.
The Oasis product opened the scoring in Friday’s 4-0 home rout of Humboldt State with a first-time, left-footed shot in just the fifth minute, after a ball over the top from Estuardo Zecena took a bounce into the penalty area. Villalobos doubled the Bronco advantage at 55:28 with a left-footed shot from eight yards away on the left side, and assisted Christian Miramontes four and a half minutes later for a 3-0 bulge.
Villalobos still saved his best for last, unleashing a special strike in the 85th minute to complete his first hat trick in the green and gold. Gathering the ball just inside his own half in the midfield circle, he dribbled forward before expertly chipping the Lumberjack goalie right-footed from about 40 yards away.
In Sunday’s 7-1 demolition of visiting San Francisco State, which had won three in a row coming in, Villalobos added a pair of assists, including on Cal Poly Pomona’s second from Eduardo Faria at 13:39, that proved to be the game-winning tally.
Villalobos’ is one of seven hat tricks across the league in 2019, and one of two from last Friday, joined by Robert Roosen of Cal State Dominguez Hills. It was the 12th hat trick in program history. Villalobos rebounded in a big way from having his streak of eight consecutive matches with at least one goal scored, snapped just over a week prior on Oct. 17. He now has an even 30 goals for his three-year CPP career.
Friday’s effort moved Villalobos atop the CCAA goals chart by himself with 13. He also paces the league in total points (31) and shots on goal (25), and is second in shots (49), tied for sixth with his three game-winning goals, and tied for eighth with five assists. Nationally, Villalobos is tied for fifth in total goals, fifth in total points, tied for sixth in goals per game (0.93), and eighth in points per game (2.21).
Villalobos is the first CCAA men’s soccer student-athlete to garner a second weekly distinction for 2019, having previously been named on Oct. 8. He is a three-time CCAA Player of the Week for his career, with an initial honor on Sept. 26, 2017.
Cal Poly Pomona (8-4-2, 7-1-1 CCAA) remains at Kellogg Stadium in the coming week, wrapping up its regular-season home slate by hosting northern foes Cal State East Bay on Friday and Cal State Monterey Bay Sunday on Senior Day.
Also nominated:
Pedro Enciso, UC San Diego
Antonio Rosas, Cal State LA
Brandon Sangbarani, Cal State San Bernardino