Senior defender Gary Flood (Hauppauge, NY/Hauppauge HS) was named the National Division I Men's Soccer Player of the Week by Soccer Times, it was announced today.

Flood was the backbone of a Hofstra defense that allowed only one shot on goal in two games, as Hofstra picked up a pair of big Colonial Athletic Association wins over Drexel (3-0) and Delaware (2-0). The wins vaulted the Pride into a tie for second place in the CAA standings at 7-2-1 in league play. Hofstra also reached the 10-win plateau (10-4-2) for the third straight season, the first time in school history that has happened.

Hofstra picked up the 3-0 win over Drexel on Friday, Oct. 20 without freshman goalkeeper James Winters (Austin, TX) needing to make a single save as all six Dragon shots were off-target from outside the penalty area. On Sunday against Delaware, the Blue Hens did not put a single shot on target until the 78:30 mark, when junior goalkeeper Tom Johansen (Northport, NY) made the Pride's only save of the weekend. Dating back to the first half of a 2-1 win over VCU on Oct. 15, the Hofstra defense held its opponents without a shot on net for a span of 220 minutes, or almost two and a half games.

Flood is a four-year starter at center back for the Pride, where he has helped Hofstra earn the first two NCAA Division I Tournament appearances in school history in 2004 and 2005. Flood was named the Most Outstanding Performer of the 2005 Colonial Athletic Association Tournament, when he helped Hofstra to its second straight title with a 1-0 shutout win over #7 Old Dominion in the championship game.

This season, Flood has been the glue behind a young defensive unit that has featured sophomore center back Corey Gudmundson (Dallas, TX) and freshmen outside backs Jamal Neptune (East Windsor, NJ) and Richard Martinez (Highland, NY). Hofstra also played six conference games with Winters, another freshman, in goal and came away with a 5-1 record in those contests, with the only loss coming in a 1-0 defeat to UNC Wilmington on a penalty kick.

Hofstra is next in action when it closes out the 2006 regular season with a road game at Northeastern on Friday at 6 p.m. The Pride could earn the second seed and an opening round bye in the CAA Tournament with a win and a George Mason loss or tie to first place Towson. Hofstra can finish no lower than third, in which case it would host an opening round game at Hofstra Soccer Stadium on Tuesday, Oct. 31.

To view the Soccer Times award page, please go to the following link:

http://www.soccertimes.com/ncaa/2006/menplayer.htm