PORTLAND, Ore. - The GNAC announced the weekly award winners for Oct. 2-8 on Monday, with Northwest Nazarene's Jim Wagenaar earning the Men's Soccer Offensive Player of the Week nod.

The conference's first hat trick of the season belonged to Wagenaar, who continued his stellar debut collegiate campaign with three goals in the Nighthawks' wild 4-3 defeat against Western Oregon.

With his team trailing 2-0 early, Wagenaar pulled the Nighthawks level at 2-2 with goals in the 49th and 61st minutes. When the Wolves scored in the 69th minute, Wagenaar found yet another equalizer 10 minutes later to complete the hat trick. The big performance lifted him to the top of the GNAC leaderboard with seven goals scored this season.

"It's tough for a freshman to come in and do well right away, but he has come in and has really worked at assimilating to the culture we have," NNU head coach James Williamson said. "He has started to thrive in the last few weeks. He has been a really good team first guy, he is consistently putting in quality reps in front of goal, and he helps us get better every day. The biggest thing that stands out is his unwavering confidence in himself, which is vital for a striker. He has been wonderful to have and is a great piece to the team culture."

Wagenaar and the Nighthawks will hit the road this week, visiting Montana State Billings on Thursday and Saint Martin's on Saturday.