Western Washington University freshman defender Kurtis Pederson has been named the Red Lion/Great Northwest Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Defensive Player of the Week for Sept. 1-8.

Pederson keyed the Viking defense that helped produce two 1-0 victories over Hawaii Pacific and Dixie State.

"Kurtis played two complete games for us," said WWU coach Travis Connell. "He defended well, was dominant in the air and consistently put our attack on the right foot with his distribution out of the back."

The Vikings begin Great Northwest Athletic Conference play this week with the final two games of their four-game home stand, playing host to Northwest Nazarene on Thursday (12:30 p.m.) and Montana State Billings on Saturday (2 p.m.).