Nikko Boxall scored the game-winning goal in Wednesday's 2-0 victory over Northern Illinois and helped Northwestern shut out two opponents last week.Nikko Boxall scored the game-winning goal in Wednesday's 2-0 victory over Northern Illinois and helped Northwestern shut out two opponents last week.

Nikko Boxall Named Big Ten Co-Defensive Player of the Week

Oct. 17, 2011

EVANSTON, Ill. - Freshman Nikko Boxall (Auckland, New Zealand/Mt. Albert) has been named the Big Ten's Co-Defensive Player of the Week the conference announced Monday. He shares this week's honor with Wisconsin's Max Jentsch.

Boxall scored his second goal of the season Wednesday against Northern Illinois, which proved to be the game-winning goal in NU's 2-0 victory. Peter O'Neill sent in a corner kick to Boxall who headed it in from six yards out for the score at the 57:42 mark. Boxall's two game-winning goals tie him for second in the conference.

Boxall also played on the Northwestern defense that shut out two opponents last week (1-0 win at Penn State). Northwestern has now shut out seven opponents this season, including three shutouts in the Wildcats' five-match unbeaten streak (4-0-1).

This is the first player of the week honor for Boxall and his recognition by the conference sets a Northwestern men's soccer record as four different players have won Big Ten weekly awards this season. The Wildcats had five player of the week honorees in 2008, but three of those honors went to Misha Rosenthal.

With senior Oliver Kupe (Clarkston, Mich./Clarkston) winning offensive honors last week, NU now has back-to-back Big Ten Players of the Week for the first time since 2008. Mark Blades won the defensive honor on Sept. 18, 2008 and Matt Eliason took home offensive honors on Sept. 15.

Earlier this season, Tyler Miller (Woodbury, N.J./Bishop Eustace) won the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 5 and Chris Ritter (Winnetka, Ill./New Trier) won the offensive award on Sept. 19.

Boxall and the rest of the Wildcats only have three games remaining at Lakeside Field, beginning at 7 p.m. Wednesday against Loyola-Chicago. Northwestern then hosts Wisconsin in a match that airs live on the Big Ten Network Sunday, Oct. 23 at 1 p.m. and concludes the home schedule Sunday, Oct. 30 at 2 p.m. against Indiana.

••••••

Be the first to know what's going on with the 'Cats -- Follow @NU_Sports on Twitter, become a fan of Northwestern Athletics on Facebook! and subscribe to the NU Sports Express e-newsletter to receive the latest news, schedule updates and video and to interact with NU. For more information on following specific Northwestern teams online, visit our Social Media page!