WACO, Texas – Louisiana Christian University men's soccer team goalkeeper Ricardo Gross stood tall under relentless pressure and for his efforts was awarded the final Red River Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week award for the 2025 season, the conference office announced Monday.
 
Gross, a freshman goalkeeper from São Miguel do Oeste, Brazil, was credited with nine saves in the two matches in the week while picking up his second career clean sheet, doing all of that while spending at least 15 minutes in both matches down at least one man.
 
In Thursday's match against Jarvis Christian, Gross was credited with three saves to get the clean sheet in LCU's 1-0 win over the Bulldogs. He was able to keep JCU off the board despite the Wildcats being down to 10 men for more than 69 minutes of the contest which was a make-up of a previously weather-postponed match-up.
 
Saturday against #7 and previously undefeated LSU Shreveport, Gross came up with six saves as the Wildcats handed the Pilots their first loss of the season with a 2-1 result to end the regular season. With the help of his defense, Gross was able to hold off the furious LSUS attack in the final 15 minutes when LCU went down to 10 men. While the Pilots scored in the 89^th minute, right after the Wildcats went down to nine players on the field, Gross came up with a save which helped secure the upset win.
 
Gross finished the 2025 season with a 4-5-1 record in net with 52 saves and 17 goals allowed with two clean sheets in 12 matches played. LCU finished its 2025 season with a 6-8-1 overall record and 4-6-1 with 13 points for a ninth-place finish in RRAC play.