University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) men’s soccer standout Pijus Petkevicius was selected as the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Defensive Player of the Week, which was announced by the conference on Monday.

Petkevicius recorded two clean sheets last week. The freshman goalkeeper from Vilnius, Lithuania collected 11 saves and allowed zero goals as the Prairie Stars (2-2-2, 1-0-1) went 1-0-1 in two conference matches last week.

   Petkevicius tallied a career-high seven saves as UIS fought to a 1-0 victory against Maryville University (1-2-2, 0-1-1) last Friday. The Prairie Stars clashed with Rockhurst University (1-2-2, 0-0-2) last Sunday and ended in a scoreless draw. Petkevicius served as the UIS goalkeeper for 110 minutes and notched four saves.

    Among UIS Division II single-season and career leaders, Petkevicius is tied for third with two shutouts.

  Petkevicius picked up his first career GLVC Defensive Player of the Week award and earned the program’s first since Tommy Geile in 2015.