Talented stars with thick MASL pedigree honored as MASL 2 Players of Week

TAMPA, Florida -- Two players with impressive Major Arena Soccer League pedigrees -- Thiago Frietas of the Harrisburg Heat and Rainer Hauss of the Iowa Demon Hawks -- have been selected as Players of the Week for their winning efforts this past weekend.

For the second straight week, Hauss has earned Goalkeeper of the Week honors in helping the Demon Hawks to a huge win over the Iowa Raptors, who came into the game with just one loss and peppered the Demon Hawks with 28 shots on goal. The still unbeaten Hauss was credited with 16 saves. 

 He has been with the Demon Hawks in all four of their seasons as their No. 1 netminder, and went 15-0 in helping his team to the 2023-24 MASL 2 championship. He also backstopped the Florida Tropics to the MASL championship series in the 2021-22 season, where they fell in a pair of one-goal losses to the champion San Diego Sockers. In that playoff run, he had an incredible goals against average of 3.81 and a saves percentage of .822. 

Frietas has long been one of the sports premier playmakers, and he helped the Harrisburg Heat, debuting this past weekend in MASL 2, to a sweep of previously undefeated United Elite Krajisnik. In the two games. Frietas scored four goals and no so surprisingly five assists. 

In 79 career games in the MASL, including two prior seasons with the Heat, he has scored 44 goals and added 67 assists. He spent the last three years with the Iowa Demon Hawks in MASL 2, helping them to a league championship in 2023-24, scoring 37 goals and an amazing 63 assists in just 25 games. In five playoff games over two MASL 2 seasons, he has scored seven goals and 11 assists.