Rebai nabs first career Heart weekly honor following season finale win

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Playing the final regular season game of their 2024 campaign last Thursday, Clarke University men's soccer earned their fourth Heart of America Athletic Conference Player of the Week honor as sophomore defender Nadji Rebai earned Defensive Player of the Week, Heart officials announced on Monday.

Rebai recorded a career-high four-point night against the Vikings, putting his name on the scoresheet on all three of the Pride goals, first with a pair of assists on Luke Persenico goals as Clarke held a 2-0 lead at halftime after Rebai sent a long ball forward from near his own 18-yard box where Persenico was able to run on for a breakaway to score in the fifth minute.

Then later in the first half, a Joshua Reddy long throw-in found the 6-4 target in the box where Rebai would flick the ball on to Persenico to volley it in at the 25th minute to make it the eventual halftime score of 2-0.

After Grand View would make it 2-1 in the second half, Rebai would volley home his first career collegiate goal when he put a Carles Aparisi corner kick into the back of the net for the game-winning goal to make it 3-1 at the time for CU to hang on by a final score of 3-2.

Rebai joins Persenico along with Hector Medrano as three members of the Pride to earn Heart Player of the Week as Medrano earned his long Offensive Player of the Week honor on Oct. 21 following back-to-back wins for Persenico on Oct. 14 and Oct. 7, the first of which also resulted in Persenico being the NAIA Offensive Player of the Week.

Clarke men's soccer finished the 2024 regular season with their best record in program history, tying the school record for wins at a 10-4-1 with a 7-4 Heart record to finish as the No. 3 seed in the Heart Tournament where they will host a Heart Tournament game for the first time ever when Benedictine College comes to Burrows Field for a 7:00 p.m. CT kickoff.