Northwestern University Athletics
Photo by: Henry Frieman/Northwestern Athletics
Ponce de León, O’Reilly Collect Big Ten Men’s Soccer Weekly Honors
11/4/2025 2:30:00 PM | Men's Soccer
Both played vital roles in Wildcats’ 2-0 upset of No. 17 Indiana
EVANSTON, Ill. (November 4, 2025) – After helping lead Northwestern to a 2-0 win over No. 17 Indiana last Friday, Rafael Ponce de León (Pennington, N.J./Pennington School/Villanova) and Aaron O'Reilly (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) have been honored by the Big Ten Conference, it was announced by the league office on Tuesday. Ponce de León was tabbed as the league's Goalkeeper of the Week, while O'Reilly earned his second Freshman of the Week nod of 2025.
Ponce de León piled up six saves, one stop off his season high, to anchor the Wildcat defensive unit against the Hoosiers. The Pennington, N.J. native made four saves across the final quarter-hour of play en route to posting his fifth shutout of 2025 and 12th career clean sheet, a latter mark that ranks fifth all-time in Wildcat annals. Ponce de León also added an assist on O'Reilly's 65th minute goal, the first by a Wildcat netminder since 2019.
Spurred on by its netminder, Northwestern became only the third team this season to hold Indiana scoreless.
O'Reilly found the back of the net for the second time in as many games this past Friday. Just over six minutes after Alejandro Martinez Santamaria opened the scoring, the Naperville, Ill. product drilled a one-time effort from just inside the box to double Northwestern's advantage.
Currently tied for the team lead in goals with four tallies, O'Reilly is the first two-time recipient of the Big Ten Freshman of the Week award this season.
Northwestern returns to action this evening against Wisconsin in a 7 p.m. CT kickoff at the McClimon Soccer Complex in Madison, Wis.
Ponce de León piled up six saves, one stop off his season high, to anchor the Wildcat defensive unit against the Hoosiers. The Pennington, N.J. native made four saves across the final quarter-hour of play en route to posting his fifth shutout of 2025 and 12th career clean sheet, a latter mark that ranks fifth all-time in Wildcat annals. Ponce de León also added an assist on O'Reilly's 65th minute goal, the first by a Wildcat netminder since 2019.
Spurred on by its netminder, Northwestern became only the third team this season to hold Indiana scoreless.
O'Reilly found the back of the net for the second time in as many games this past Friday. Just over six minutes after Alejandro Martinez Santamaria opened the scoring, the Naperville, Ill. product drilled a one-time effort from just inside the box to double Northwestern's advantage.
Currently tied for the team lead in goals with four tallies, O'Reilly is the first two-time recipient of the Big Ten Freshman of the Week award this season.
Northwestern returns to action this evening against Wisconsin in a 7 p.m. CT kickoff at the McClimon Soccer Complex in Madison, Wis.
Players Mentioned
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