American Athletic Conference Honors Charlotte 49ers
Following wins over Elon and Johnson & Wales (N.C.) last week, the American Athletic Conference acknowledged three Charlotte 49ers as freshman forward Natsuki Ogata was named the conference’s Rookie of the Week, while Filip Jauk and Ian Pilcher were placed on the league’s weekly honor roll, as announced by the league office.
Ogata was named AAC Rookie of the Week for the second consecutive week. In the 7-0 win over Johnson & Wales, the Osaka, Japan native scored two goals to record his first collegiate brace. He scored in the 20th and 60th minutes against the Wildcats. This is Ogata’s third career Rookie of the Week honor.
Against Johnson & Wales, Filip Jauk became the first Charlotte player since 2016 to record a hat trick. The junior forward scored the game’s opening goal in the 20th minute and then returned with consecutive second-half goals in the 69th and 77th minutes to secure the three-goal performance.
The Maribor, Slovenia native is the first Niner to score three goals in a single game since Brandt Bronico against UAB on October 22, 2016.
Pilcher made the conference’s honor roll for a second consecutive week after scoring the game-winning goal and playing all 90 minutes (one of two field players to do so) in the 1-0 shutout of Elon. The Charlotte, N.C. native provided the punctuation with assists from Brigham Larsen and Jonathan Nyandjo on a Matthew Kirk corner kick. After scoring just one goal in his first 41 games for the Niners, the junior defender scored game-winning goals in two straight matches, beginning with the victory over Tulsa.
The 49ers are 9-2-1 overall and have now won four straight games.
Charlotte closes out the regular season with a trip to Miami, Fla. to take on FIU on Oct. 27 before hosting Memphis at Transamerica Field in the Nov. 1 regular season finale. The Niners can eliminate any angst by defeating the Panthers on Friday and officially claiming the first-round bye in the tournament at FIU’s expense. Both contests will be broadcast on ESPN+ and live statistics will be available.
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