Victor Rodriguez-Gonzales, a junior goalkeeper from Robert E. Lee High School (San Antonio, Texas), and Dana Ulrich, a senior forward from New Tier High School (Winnetka, Illinois), are the TopDrawerSoccer.com High School Players of the Week. 

Before this season, it had been five years since San Antonio Lee had won a district title. That changed this year with a pair of huge shutout victories over Reagan and Roosevelt. Nobody was more imperious in those matches than Rodriguez-Gonzales, who stood on his head in both matches to assure Lee won the District 26-6A title. He spearheaded both and stood out especially in the win over Reagan, in which he managed four saves. That included one with less than five minutes to go on what looked like a sure goal to preserve the shutout and clinch a share of district. 

On the girls side, New Trier is annually one of the toughest teams in the country. This year’s Class 3A defending state champion team no exception, as is evidenced by their strong No. 2 ranking. The team is off to a rollicking (and completely unsurprising) 3-0 start to the season, and Dana Ulrich had a bigger hand in it than anyone. The senior goal machine managed to score six goals in those three matches in the opening weekend of the season to kickstart things in a big way. Next year, Ulrich will head off to the University of Chicago on scholarship.

Other boys finalists include Shep Davis (Wando High School, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina) and Blake Crutchfield (Snohomish High School, Snohomish, Washington). Other girls finalists include Rebecca Callison (Battlefield High School, Haymarket, Virginia) and Aleah Kelley (St. Joseph’s Academy, St. Louis, Missouri).

The TopDrawerSoccer.com High School Player of the Week honor is designed to highlight a selection of the nation's rising stars populating the high school ranks. Coaches are free to nominate a boys or girls player each week by emailing their submission to Will Parchman at wparchman@topdrawersoccer.com. Be sure to include the school, position, grade year and any relevant stats from the previous week. The selection process will take into account a slew of factors from contribution to team results to individual accolades. Honorees are announced each Wednesday.