ALFRED, NY – Alfred University's Gavin Culley (San Diego, CA/San Dieguito Academy) was named the Empire 8 Men's Soccer Offensive Player of the Week on Monday afternoon.
 
Culley recorded nine out of his 10 points of the season this past week. His big breakout was a two-goal, three-assist, seven-point showing against Pitt-Bradford on Wednesday's home-opener for the Saxons. His assists and total points both tied school records as his assists tied teammate, Juan Jose Menendez Guttierez (Villanueva Cañada, Madrid, Spain/Woodstock Academy), who had three last year at Pitt-Bradford. He also tied Kalum Holbrook '22 and Tony Gai '13 with seven points as both Holbrook and Gai had three goals and one assist in their games, Holbrook doing it against SUNY Cobleskill in 2021 and Gai against Marywood in 2012.
 
AU won 6-0 as Culley was credited with the game-winning goal in the 24^th minute off a pass from Niko Lampros (Lake Oswego, OR/Lakeridge). He then assisted Justin Eaton (Williamson, NY/Williamson) on the next goal to go up, 2-0. Culley scored his second goal off a pass from Xavier Bowman (Hampstead, MD/Manchester Valley) in the 44^th minute, just before the half ended with three seconds remaining on the clock. Culley then assisted the next two goals, with both occurring within the first four minutes of the second half, going up 5-0. Culley closed out his week helping AU open Empire 8 play with a 4-0 win over Keuka College. He scored the final goal of the game in the 66^th minute, redirecting a long ball from Christian Martinez (Grand Prairie, TX/South Grand Prairie). All eight of his shots were on-goal this past week. Out of his 15 shots on the season, only two have not been on target.
 
Culley was also named a Saxon of the Week on Monday alongside fellow Empire 8 Weekly Honoree, Dion Anderson (Buffalo, NY/St. Joseph's Collegiate Institution) as not only a Saxon of the Week, but the Empire 8 Football Co-Offensive Player of the Week.