Virginia Tech and Wake Forest standouts earn ACC Player of the Week Honors

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Virginia Tech senior forward Jacob Labovitz was selected as the ACC Men’s Soccer Offensive Player of the Week, while Wake Forest sophomore defender Nico Benalcazar was named ACC Defensive Player of the Week.

After missing the previous contest, Labovitz recorded the first brace of his Virginia Tech career to lead the Hokies to their first victory of the season, 2-1, on Friday night at Louisville. A native of Great Falls, Virginia, Labovitz scored in the 57th minute to give the Hokies a lead. After the Cardinals equalized in the 72nd minute and eventually sent the game to overtime, Labovitz struck again in the 93rd minute on a beautiful strike for the golden goal.

This game-winning goal by Jacob Labovitz is some thing to see ?

It was so good we had to give you multiple angles ?‍♂️#Hokies ?⚽️ pic.twitter.com/991UgpUVlv

— Virginia Tech Men’s Soccer (@HokiesMSoccer) November 1, 2020

A native of Wilton, Connecticut, Benalcazar scored the game-winning goal in a 2-0 home victory against No. 3 Clemson on Friday night. It was his first goal of the season and the third of his career. It also was his first career goal against an ACC opponent. He played the full 90 minutes, guiding the young Demon Deacon back line to a third-straight clean sheet at Spry Stadium. For a portion of the second half, he was an anchor of a four-man back line that featured three freshmen alongside him. This marked just the second time this season Clemson was shut out.

This marks the final week of regular-season play in the fall ACC Men’s Soccer schedule. Virginia Tech and Notre Dame are playing a makeup game Monday afternoon on ACC Network. All four conference matchups this weekend also will be televised: Virginia Tech-Virginia at 4 p.m. Friday on the ACC’s Regional Sports Networks, Louisville-Notre Dame at 7 p.m. Friday on RSN, Duke-North Carolina at 8 p.m. Friday on ACCN and Wake Forest-NC State at 7 p.m. Saturday on RSN.