Sept. 19, 2005

SAN BRUNO, Calif. - Santa Clara University defender Jide Ogunbiyi was named the West Coast Conference Men's Soccer Co-Player of the Week, the league office announced today.

Ogunbiyi, a native of Gwynedd, Penn., headed-in the game-winning goal in Santa Clara's 2-1 overtime win over rival Stanford Friday night at Buck Shaw Stadium. The six-foot, four-inch freshman rose high above a crowd in front of the goal to head in a Peter Lowry service into the penalty area in the 97th minute of the contest.

"It is quite the honor for Jide to earn WCC Player of the Week, especially considering the fact that defenders are regularly overlooked for such awards," said head coach Cameron Rast, a defensive player for SCU and the U.S. National Team during his playing days. "He has had a very good start to the season, particularly for a freshman. He has a really bright future ahead of him in the game of soccer."

Santa Clara's Keith DeVey was named the WCC Player of the Week in each of the first two weeks of the season. This week, Ogunbiyi shared the honor with San Francisco's Rob Valentino.

An anchor in the middle of the Bronco defense, Ogunbiyi has helped lead a unit that surrendered just one goal last weekend in the run of play. Sixth-ranked Cal scored on a header in the 86th minute to take a 1-0 victory on Sunday. On Friday, Stanford's only goal came on a penalty kick in the 21st minute.

A typically stingy team defensively, Santa Clara has held its opponents to a goal or less in four of its six games this season. The Broncos return to the field Friday at 5:30 p.m. against Florida International as part of the annual adidas Classic in Buck Shaw Stadium.

A 2005 graduate of Wissahickon High School in Ambler, Penn. Ogunbiyi was twice named first-team All-Area and first-team All-Suburban League. He has been a member of the Nigerian Youth National Team Program since 2001 and was named the Nigeria Youth Pepsi Academy MVP three consecutive years.