Tropics sweep MASL Player-of-the-Week honors as Silva, Reget are picked

LAKELAND, Florida – Two games into the 2021-22 season, the Florida Tropics already have two Major Arena Soccer League honorees.

Goaltender Hugo Silva and forward Zach Reget have been named the league’s Defensive and Offensive Players of the Week for week 2 of the new season.

The pair were instrumental in an impressive weekend road sweep of the Baltimore Blast and Utica City FC. The Tropics opened their season, as did the Blast, in Baltimore with a 6-4 win. Arriving in Utica after 2 a.m. Sunday morning for a 3 p.m. kickoff in Utica just hours later, Florida was dominant in quieting a second near sold-out arena with its 7-1 decision over the upstate New York hosts.

Silva faced 72 shots in the two games, and was credited with 37 saves for a spectacular saves percentage of .881 over the pair of games. His goals against average is tops in the MASL currently at 2.50. 

Silva got plenty of defensive help as the Tropics combined for an incredible 33 blocked shots (19 vs. Baltimore and 14 vs. Utica.). Defender Chad Vandegriffe is tied for tops in the MASL in total blocked shots with five., while teammates Kiel Williams, a forward, and defender Joshio Sandoval are tied for second in the league with four blocks each. 

Reget scored four goals, including the game winner in Baltmore, where  he recorded the hat trick. He is second in the league in goals, one behiind leader Leo Gibson of Kansas City, which is also 2-0, who has five.

“Both Hugo and Zach are representative of the kind of foucs and dedication every player on the team has shown since Day One of training camp,” Coach Clay Roberts noted. “Those two certainly stood out, but we had a number of players who had strong weekends for us, and we will continue to need that with the challenges of the schedule ahead.”

The weekly honors are voted on by a panel of MASL broadcasters, including Tropics play-by-play announcer Brian Ackley. 

Florida will kick off an unprecedented nine-game homestand starting Saturday, Dec. 18 when they host the Ontario Fury – who lost out to the San Diego Sockers in the MASL championship round last spring – for a pair of games at the RP Funding Center. Kickoff Saturday is 5:05 p.m. with the back end of the double dip set for 3:05 p.m. Sunday.

Season tickets for all 12 Florida home games which guarantee the best seats in the house are now on sale by calling 863-240-0101. Each family season ticket account includes a parking pass this season.

In addition, the “Tropics Blitz” will provide free general admission tickets to many of the 200 level seats at the RP Funding Center for the entire 2021-22 season thanks to the team’s sponsor as a thank-you for five years of support, and as a way of providing a great evening of family entertainment for parents and kids who have had their activities curtailed because of the ongoing pandemic. Vehicles with two or more persons will pay $20 to park, and then be able to take their parking receipt to the RP Funding Center box office for the same number of free tickets to that day’s game as occupants in the vehicle. Single occupant vehicles will pay just $10 for parking. 

For more information, visit www.fltropics.com.