Oct. 12, 2010

BERKELEY - California senior co-captain A.J. Soares earned his second Pac-10 Player of the Week honor of the season after his all-around play in the Golden Bears' recent conference wins over Oregon State and Washington, the Pac-10 office announced on Tuesday. The leader of Cal's typically stingy defense, Soares scored two goals in the 5-0 rout of the Beavers on Oct. 8 in Corvallis, Ore., and tallied one goal and one assist in the Bears' convincing 4-1 victory over the Huskies on Oct. 10 in Seattle.

College Soccer News and Top Drawer Soccer also named the Solana Beach, Calif., product their player of the week as well as placed him on their teams of the week for his play in the two wins.

This is Soares' second conference honor of his career, with the first coming in September after Cal's 2-1 season-opening upset of then-No. 20 Indiana and subsequent 0-0 tie with then-No. 18 Notre Dame in the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic.

Cal has now claimed three Pac-10 Player of the Week awards this season, as senior forward Davis Paul earned the Sept. 14 conference accolade.

The 10th/13th-ranked Bears are back at Goldman Field on Friday, Oct. 15, when they take on San Diego State at 4 p.m. On Sunday, Oct. 17, Cal welcomes No. 10/13 UCLA to Berkeley at 2:30 p.m.