Regna Named A-Sun Defensive Player Of The Week
9/28/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Sept. 28, 2009
Spartanburg, S.C. - After turning in a tremendous week in the net and leading USC Upstate to a pair of wins over Georgia Southern and Presbyterian College, Spartans goalkeeper Pat Regna has been named the A-Sun Defensive Player of the Week for men's soccer.
"Pat has made some big saves for us and kept us in games throughout the year," said Upstate head coach Greg Hooks. "He is very deserving of the recognition. He faced a lot of shots last week that could have changed the outcome of the games had they gone in. He single-handedly kept us in the games and gave us a chance to win."
Regna, a senior from Rochester, N.Y., was simply outstanding in net for the Spartans last week, finishing with a 2-0 record, 19 saves and a 0.91 goals against average to lead Upstate to its first back-to-back wins of the season and the second in the Division I era at Upstate. He began the week with seven saves, five in the first half, to lead the Spartans to a 3-1 victory over Georgia Southern. The only blemish on his performance in the match was allowing a penalty kick goal in the second half. Regna turned in an amazing performance in net at Presbyterian Saturday night. In a pouring rain storm and with rain-soaked gloves, he tallied a career-high 12 saves and single-handedly secured the match for the Spartans with five spectacular saves.
With eight minutes left to play in the first half and the game scoreless, Regna jumped to save a shot from going into the upper left 90. Five minutes later, he made another series of saves to keep the Blue Hose off the scoreboard. He made a diving save to his right to save a shot, then lunged from his knees to make the save on the rebound shot. He again came up huge for the Spartans in the second overtime period. He made a diving save on a shot from 15 yards out with a little over nine minutes to play, just getting his hands on the ball to deflect it away from the goal to keep Upstate in the game. With PC mounting another attack with 3:15 to play in overtime, he dove to his right on the ground to save a shot headed for the side of the goal.
Regna now has four career wins in goal for Upstate, breaking the old Division I school record of three once held by current Spartan teammate Jason McCabe who finished the 2007 season, Upstate's first on the NCAA Division I level and McCabe's freshman year, with three wins. Regna has played every second in goal this year for Upstate and is tied for third in the A-Sun with a 1.36 goals against average. He ranks second in the conference with 40 saves and an .800 save percentage.
Regna is the fourth Upstate men's soccer player to earn a weekly honor from the A-Sun. McCabe was named the A-Sun Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 8 after leading Upstate to back-to-back wins over Belmont and Lipscomb in 2007. That same week, Troy Simon earned player of the week honors. Last year, David Stanbra earned player of the week honors on Oct. 27 after leading the Spartans to a 3-1 victory over Mercer.
