LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – Freshman Pablo DeCastro (Madrid, Spain) and senior David Pastuna (Robbinsville, NJ/Robbinsville) have been named MAAC Rookie and Defensive Player of the Week, respectively, the league office today announced. The duo pushed Rider to a 2-1 win over nationally-ranked Fairleigh Dickinson on Tuesday. This is the second honor of the year for both DeCastro and Pastuna, with both earning the distinction on Sept. 4. Pastuna now takes the award for the fifth time in his Rider career. With Sylvain Coco's (Nimes, France/University of Montpellier) honor on Sept. 11, the Broncs have now secured MAAC Rookie of the Week in three of five weeks in 2017.

DeCastro scored the game-winning goal against FDU with the rebound of a Clement Bourret (Orleans, France/Lycee Jean Giraudoux) shot off the crossbar in the 70^th minute. The goal was the team-leading third of the year for the freshman.

Pastuna made three saves in the victory. Included in the stat line was a save on a penalty kick in the 12th minute to keep the game scoreless and swing the momentum in the Broncs' favor. For the year, Pastuna has now posted a 1.24 goals-against average and a .710 save percentage in 2017.