Bellarmine University freshman goalkeeper Blake Hunter (Novi, Mich./Walled Lake Western) is the Great Lakes Valley Conference Men’s Soccer Player of the Week. Hunter helped guide the Knights to the semifinal round of the GLVC Men’s Soccer Tournament last week.

Hunter opened the week by earning a shutout in Bellarmine’s 1-0 win at No. 4 Northern Kentucky on Wednesday. He made a season-high eight saves in the victory and is just the second goalkeeper this season to shut out the Norse. Hunter tended goal for over 102 minutes in the victory.

On Sunday, Hunter blocked two of UIndy’s four penalty kick attempts to help the Knights earn a 4-2 decision in a shootout that determined which of the two teams would advance to the GLVC Men’s Soccer Tournament semifinal. UIndy and Bellarmine fought to a 2-2 tie through two overtimes in the quarterfinal match before Hunter registered the key shootout efforts. He also made three of his four saves on the day in the second overtime to secure the tie and force the shootout.

On the week, Hunter posted a 0.84 goals against average and made 12 saves. He has a  0.92 goals against average on the season and has made 63 saves in goal for the Knights. Hunter has a 10-5-2 record and has five shutouts on the year.

Bellarmine (10-6-2), the No. 6 seed for the tournament, will now face No. 7 seed Drury in the first semifinal match at Rockhurst on Friday.

Other top performers in the GLVC last week included Drury’s Scott Stiffler, Indianapolis’ Micah Uemura, Lewis’ Aloisio Barros, Quincy’s Ethan Venvertloh and Rockhurst’s Nick McDonald.