ELMHURST, Ill. – Western Illinois goalkeeper Stephen Paterson has been named as The Summit League Defensive Co-Player of the Week after breaking a 22-year school record in the team’s regular-season finale against Oakland.

Paterson notched his 21st career shutout in a 0-0 tie against Oakland, Saturday, Nov. 7. The Thunder Bay, Ontario, native made four saves in the shutout to break Ric Vondermark’s previous record of 20 career shutouts which had stood since the 1987 season.

The award marks the second time this season that Paterson has earned Player of the Week honors. Paterson has compiled a record of 4-8-2 along with a .756 save percentage and a 1.45 goals against average this season.

MACOMB, Ill.- Western Illinois goalkeeper Stephen Paterson broke the school record for career shutouts Saturday afternoon as the Fighting Leathernecks tied Oakland, 0-0 (2OT).

“I really wanted to win the game and wasn’t worried about the record,” said Paterson after his senior-day performance. “But it does feel great to own the record.”

Paterson recorded his 21st career shutout in the tie against Oakland, breaking Ric Vondermark’s record of 20 shutouts set in 1987.

“The shutout was great,” said Western Illinois head coach Dr. Eric Johnson. “We had to use a lot of players today due to injuries and those guys stepped up and played well. Defensively, we played okay, and were good enough to shut them down.”

With 20 seconds left to play in regulation, Husref Jupic found an open spot in the defensive and passed the ball to an open Nathan Sanchez running down the left-side of the field, but Sanchez’s shot to win the match was stopped by Oakland’s goalkeeper to send the game into overtime.

“We thought we would have won the match with the number of quality of chances we had this afternoon, but we didn’t,” said Johnson. 

Western was unable to convert on a penalty kick in the 94th minute as Paterson’s kick was saved by the fingertips of Mitch Hildebrandt to keep the match scoreless. 

The Western offense out shot Oakland by five (18-13) and took two more shots on goal (6-4) in the match. Sanchez led the attack with four shots and two shots on goal while Jupic and Jonathan Sandoval both added two shots and a shot on goal.

Defensively, Paterson recorded four saves in 110 minutes of action while collecting his fourth shutout of the season.

“When you have a guy who has played in that many games and got that many shutouts, you know you have a special player,” said Johnson. “We have had a lot of success with him between the pipes for us over the years and he has some big shoes to fill next year, but I think Andrew Ryan will do fine.”

The Leathernecks will be back in action on Nov. 13-15 when they head to Rochester, Mich., for The Summit League Tournament.

“We are peaking at the right time,” said Johnson. “We have been good the last two weeks, so we are hoping for the best in the first game of the tournament, we will see what happens next week at the tournament.”