NEW YORK – The 2016 BIG EAST men’s soccer regular season awards and all-conference teams were announced on Saturday. Providence, the regular season winner and No. 1 seed in the upcoming championship, took home three of the league’s major awards.
Two of the major awards were split as Providence senior forward
Julian Gressel shared BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year honors with Butler’s senior forward
David Goldsmith. BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Year honors were also a split vote between Friar sophomore keeper
Colin Miller and Creighton’s senior
Alex Kapp. BIG EAST Midfielder of the Year honors went to Creighton senior
Ricardo Perez. Xavier's junior defender
Cory Brown, the coaches’ preseason pick, lived up to expectations as the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year. BIG EAST Freshman of the Year was awarded to Marquette midfielder
Luka Prpa. The BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year award was a unanimous selection for
Providence.
In addition to the major awards, the conference announced the All-BIG EAST First, Second and All-Freshman teams. Of the 23 players on the first and second team, 18 are from the six teams that make up the 2016 BIG EAST Championship, presented by Jeep, field. Nine of the 11 first team honorees are from the bracket.
The ballot is voted on by all 10 of the league’s men’s soccer coaches. Coaches do not cast ballots for their own players.
Butler’s Goldsmith, a senior Bristol, England tied for the BIG EAST lead with 11 goals during the regular season. His 70 shots were second in the league. Goldsmith has been among the national leaders in goals and shots throughout the season. Earlier this season, he was named the National Player of the Week by the NCAA, NSCAA, College Soccer News, and Top Drawer Soccer for his performance in two matches during the Akron Invitational. He earned weekly honors from the BIG EAST Conference three times this season.
Gressel finished the regular season with 27 points, helping Providence win their last eight-straight matches en route to their first regular season title. The senior captain recorded 11 goals and five assists. He scored five game-winning goals. Gressel tallied goals in 12 games including an eight-game point streak. The midfielder registered a season high five points on Oct. 8. Gressel was named BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week three times (Aug. 29, Oct. 10, Oct. 31).
Co-Offensive Players of the Year Goldsmith and Gressel were the two unanimous selections to the All-BIG EAST First Team. The pair were the only unanimous picks of the 11-player first team.
Perez, a senior co-captain, has three goals and two assists this season during 17 matches. The All-BIG EAST First Team midfielder notched his second career multi-goal performance with a two-goal showing against Marquette on Oct. 15. Perez had five points in league action with two goals and an assist. Perez has not missed a match during four years at Creighton. He has played in 82 matches, including 62 starts.
Brown, the league coaches’ pick for preseason Defensive Player of the Year, lived up to expectations as the junior from Nelson, New Zealand became Xavier’s fourth consecutive conference player of the year in some capacity. In 2016, Brown, also a member of the All-BIG EAST First Team, was the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week twice (Sept. 19 and Oct. 10) and was on the College Soccer News National Team of the Week (Oct. 10). In league action, Brown helped the Musketeers to a 1.36 goals against average and three shutouts. Brown also added a goal and an assist on the year in 18 starts.
Co-Goalkeeper of the Year Miller posted an 11-0-0 regular season record with seven shutouts for the first place Friars. The red-shirt sophomore leads the BIG EAST in goals against average (0.36) and save percentage (.913). Miller’s seven shutouts ties the top spot in the conference. The goalkeeper leads in shutouts per game percentage (0.64) as well and has only allowed four goals in 1001:01 minutes of play.
Creighton’s Kapp tied for the BIG EAST lead with seven shutouts and holds a 0.67 goals against average in 1,610 minutes of action in all games this season. The senior co-captain enters postseason play with a season record of 9-5-3 and a .824 save percentage. On Sept. 21 against No. 8 Denver, Kapp tied a Morrison Stadium record for the most saves in single match by a Creighton individual with nine. He also ranks second on the Morrison Stadium Single-Season Records list for most saves and lowest goals against average (min. 20 percent of team's minutes). Kapp has 37 saves and a 0.38 goals against average through 10 matches at home. The Amawalk, N.Y. native was named BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Week twice this season (Sept. 26, Oct. 3).
Prpa is the first Marquette player to receive BIG EAST Freshman of the Year honors after totaling the second-highest point total in the league during the regular season, falling only a point short of league-leader and Co-Offensive Player of the Year, Julian Gressel of Providence. The Wind Lake, Wisconsin native’s 26 points (10 goals, 6 assists) ranks 14th in the nation. This season, Prpa was named National Player of the Week by Top Drawer Soccer and the NSCAA, adding National Team of the Week accolades from TDS and College Soccer News as well. Prpa was Offensive Player of the Week as well as Freshman of the Week on Sept. 5. Prpa, a unanimous BIG EAST All-Freshman team selection, earned the weekly freshman award three times.
Providence head coach Craig Stewart and his staff, John Mark Andrade, Dave DeMello, Karl Spratt and Paul Latiff, were the unanimous selection as the BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year. Stewart led the program to its first regular season title and tie a program record of seven BIG EAST wins. Stewart guided the team to eight-consecutive wins, the most since 2010. Providence won eight consecutive matches to finish the regular season en route to a 12-5-0 record and 7-2-0 league slate. Stewart hit the 100 career wins mark this season and will enter the postseason with a 103-410-17 career mark, 25-17-3 in BIG EAST play and 48-29-10 in five seasons at Providence.
No. 1 seed Providence redshirt junior defender Mark Jecewiz joined unanimous pick Gressel and Miller on the All-BIG EAST First Team. Jecewiz stared in all 17 contests for Providence’s defense. The Friars had three players on the First Team in total, a league most.
Second seeded Butler boasted two on the All-BIG EAST First Team with unanimous selection Goldsmith and sophomore midfielder Jared Timmer. Timmer had seven points in league play with one goal and a team-best five assists. Butler defender Mitch Ostrowski was also voted a second team defender.
Creighton, the No. 4 seed in the upcoming tournament, also had two players on the BIG EAST First Team. In addition to Midfielder of the Year Perez, junior Lucas Stauffer was voted as one three defenders on the all-conference squad. Stauffer was BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week on Aug. 29 and has started all 17 contests for the Bluejays. In addition to the Bluejays’ first team honorees, Creighton also had a league-most four on the second team with senior forward Riggs Lennon, junior forward Ricky Lopez-Espin, redshirt sophomore defender Mitch LaGro and Co-Goalkeeper of the Year Alex Kapp.
For No. 5 seed Xavier, BIG EAST Defender of the Year Brown was the Musketeers only first team honoree. Brown’s partner on defense, junior Matt Nance, was selected to the second team.
No. 6 seed DePaul’s senior midfielder Simon Megally earned a spot on the first team. Megally led the Blue Demons in scoring with 19 points on seven goals and five assists in 17 starts. In league play, Megally had two goals and two assists.
Rounding out the first team was St. John’s forward/midfielder Harry Cooksley and Georgetown junior midfielder Christopher Lema. Cooksley led the Red Storm in points with 16 overall (five goals), five in BIG EAST action. Cooksley made six starts in 17 games. Lema finished third on the team in points overall with seven in 17 starts. Lema had three assists in league action, five in all games.
Joining Butler, Creighton and Xavier’s players on the second team are a trio from Villanova and one player each from Seton Hall, Georgetown and Marquette. Villanova, the No. 3 seed in the upcoming tournament and host of the first semifinal contest that will be played on Sunday at 1 p.m. against DePaul, had three players on the second team, including the only freshman on the all-conference teams, defender Shane Bradley. In addition to Bradley, the Wildcats had two midfielders on the second team: redshirt junior Miguel Polley and junior Andreas Bartosinski.
The final three spots on the second team went to Seton Hall’s point leader, sophomore midfielder Andres Arcila; Georgetown junior midfielder Arun Basuljevic and Marquette senior defender John Pothast.
On the BIG EAST All-Freshman Team, five of the 12 were unanimous selections by the coaches: Butler’s Lewis Suddick and Isaac Galliford; BIG EAST Freshman of the Year Luka Prpa from Marquette; and Providence’s Danny Griffin and Joao Serrano. The Friars had a league most three on the All-Freshman team. The complete list is below. The All-Freshman team is not voted on by position.
BIG EAST Championship action kicks off Sunday with the first round. No. 3 Villanova will host No. 6 DePaul at 1 p.m. at the Higgins Soccer Complex. No. 4 Creighton will host No. 5 Xavier at Morrison Stadium at 4 p.m. Both contests will air on the BIG EAST Digital Network.
The semifinals are set for Thursday at 7 p.m. hosted by No. 1 seed Providence and No. 2 seed Butler. The final will be hosted at the highest seed remaining and will air on FS2 at 12 p.m.
See below for the complete listing of awards.
All-BIG EAST First Team
David Goldsmith, Butler, Sr., F *
Julian Gressel, Providence, Sr., F *
Harry Cooksley, St. John’s, Jr., M/F
Ricardo Perez, Creighton, Sr., M/F
Jared Timmer, Butler, So., M
Simon Megally, DePaul, Sr., M
Christopher Lema, Georgetown, Jr., M
Cory Brown, Xavier, Jr., D
Mark Jecewiz, Providence, RS-Jr., D
Lucas Stauffer, Creighton, Jr., D
Colin Miller, Providence, RS-So., GK
All-BIG EAST Second Team ^
Riggs Lennon, Creighton, Sr., F
Ricky Lopez-Espin, Creighton, Jr., F
Miguel Polley, Villanova, RS-Jr., M/F
Andres Arcila, Seton Hall, So., M
Arun Basuljevic, Georgetown, Jr., M
Andreas Bartosinski, Villanova, Jr., M
Mitch LaGro, Creighton, RS-So., D/M
Mitch Ostrowski, Butler, RS-Sr., D
John Pothast, Marquette, RS-Sr., D
Shane Bradley, Villanova, Fr., D
Matt Nance, Xavier, Jr., D
Alex Kapp, Creighton, Sr., GK
BIG EAST All-Freshman Team ^^
Isaac Galliford, Butler, Fr., M*
Lewis Suddick, Butler, Fr., M/F *
Max de Bruijne, DePaul, Fr., D
Dylan Nealis, Georgetown, Fr., D
Luka Prpa, Marquette, Fr., M *
Danny Griffin, Providence, Fr., M*
Joao Serrano, Providence, Fr., D*
Liam Wilson, Providence, Fr., D
Alistair Johnston, St. John’s, Fr., M
Jonathan Jimenez, Seton Hall, Fr., F
Shane Bradley, Villanova, Fr., D
Derrick Otim, Xavier, Fr., M
BIG EAST Co-Offensive Players of the Year
David Goldsmith, Butler, Sr., F
Julian Gressel, Providence, Sr., F
BIG EAST Midfielder of the Year
Ricardo Perez, Creighton, Sr., M/F
BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year
Cory Brown, Xavier, Jr., D
BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Year
Alex Kapp, Creighton, Sr., GK
Colin Miller, Providence, RS-So., GK
BIG EAST Freshman of the Year
Luka Prpa, Marquette, Fr., M
BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year
Providence*
* - denotes unanimous selection
^ - due to a tie in voting, there are 12 student-athletes on the All-BIG EAST Second Team
^^ - due to a tie in voting, there are 12 student-athletes on the BIG EAST All-Freshman Team