Mikey Hirsch Earns Season's Final CCAA Player of the Week for Red-Hot Wildcats
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Three goals and two assists in two emphatic home victories netted Chico State senior Mikey Hirsch the final CCAA Player of the Week selection of the 2019 campaign, for Nov. 4-10.
A fifth-year Wildcat out of Elk Grove, Hirsch became the second-straight CCAA Player of the Week for Chico State to round out the regular season, as he and redshirt freshman Jacob Chong were back-to-back hat trick heroes to lead off critical six-point weeks and notch a fourth-successive CCAA Tournament berth.
Having already clinched that postseason qualification following Sonoma State’s overtime loss Wednesday to Cal Poly Pomona, Hirsch hit for three goals in Thursday’s 4-0 home win over Cal State East Bay that locked up the No. 5 seed.
Hirsch got things going just 105 seconds after the opening whistle, turning in Chong’s short cross from just inside the penalty area. He doubled the advantage at 20:35 with a sliding effort from close range. The hat trick, and the day’s scoring, was completed in the 62nd minute, when Hirsch finished off Chong’s saved header.
Hirsch added a pair of assists on his Senior Day Saturday, leading a 3-0 decision over Cal State Monterey Bay. It was his second two-assist game of 2019, after Thursday’s first career multiple-goal performance. He entered the week with three college goals, and promptly doubled that output. Hirsch has started all 16 matches this year, after never previously doing so, and appeared in 36 consecutive games.
Hirsch is the 19th student-athlete in Chico State men’s soccer history to achieve a hat trick. It was the 10th in the CCAA this season. He and Chong gave the Wildcats a league-best three CCAA Player of the Week awards for 2019, with redshirt junior center back Garrett Hogbin having earned an initial nod back on Sept. 24
The two assists gave Hirsch a share of the team lead in that category with fellow senior Justin Bethke, at six apiece. He is tied for second with 14 total points.
Chico State takes its 12-4 overall record into the
2019 CCAA Tournament, facing a first-round road test at fourth-seeded Cal State San Bernardino (11-2-3) on Tuesday. Kickoff at Premier Field in San Bernardino is set for 1 p.m.
With their backs against the wall following a three-match losing skid, the Wildcats rattled off five wins in a row to qualify for a fourth straight edition of the event. The team advancing out of Tuesday, will head to La Jolla for a Friday semifinal date with top-seeded regular-season champion and third-ranked unbeaten, Cal State LA. That contest is slated for a 1:30 p.m. start at Triton Soccer Stadium.
Also nominated:
Morten Bjoershol, Cal State LA
Isaiah Dairo, Humboldt State
Crinan Dunbar, San Francisco State
Jonathan Garcia, Cal State San Bernardino