BIG EAST Announces 2019 Men’s Soccer Regular Season Awards
NEW YORK – St. John’s sophomore forward Tani Oluwaseyi was voted the 2019 BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year. Georgetown’s junior midfielder Jacob Montes was named Midfielder of the Year with teammate Dylan Nealis Defensive Player of the Year. Goalkeeper of the Year honors were split by Hoya Giannis Nikopolidis and Red Storm netminder Jan Hoffelner. Butler’s Wilmer Cabrera Jr. earned Freshman of the Year honors, while Dave Masur and the St. John’s staff earned BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year accolades.
Five of the six major awards were shared by the top two seeds of the upcoming BIG EAST Men’s Soccer Championship presented by Jeep: No. 1 Georgetown and No. 2 St. John’s. All award winners will be in action when the semifinals kick off on Wednesday.
Oluwaseyi is the Red Storm’s first Offensive Player of the Year since Medufia Kulego won the award in 1996. Overall, Oluwaseyi is St. John’s sixth Offensive Player of the Year honoree. Oluwaseyi led the BIG EAST in conference play in shots (38), shots per game (4.22), points (15), points per game (1.67), goals (6) and goals per game (0.67). Nationally, the sophomore forward ranked eighth in game-winning goals with five. For the season, Oluwaseyi amassed 24 points on 10 goals and four assists. An All-BIG EAST First Team honoree for 2019, he was a member of the All-Freshman squad last season.
Montes is the third BIG EAST Midfielder of the Year for Georgetown, first since 2013 when Joey Dillon won the award. Midfielder of the Year has been an award in the BIG EAST since 2000. Montes started all 17 games for the Hoyas and amassed 18 points with eight goals and two assists. His eight goals were a team-high. Four of those goals were game-winners. In BIG EAST play, he scored two game-winning goals. His 12 points over nine games ranked second in the league behind Oluwaseyi. Montes was a unanimous selection to the All-BIG EAST First Team, one of only two.
Nealis, who was also the 2018 BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year, anchored a defense that combined for 10 shutouts and allowed just six goals in 17 games. During BIG EAST play, the Hoyas allowed just two goals to score, setting the BIG EAST record for goals allowed during the league season. Nealis started all 17 games for the Hoyas and helped limit opponents to just 131 shots and a .046 shot percentage. On goal, opponents were only able to get off 54 shots. Offensively, Nealis also contributed two goals and four assists. All All-BIG EAST First Team honoree, Nealis also earned a spot on the first team in 2018. Nealis’ repeat honor was the sixth Defensive Player of the Year accolade for Georgetown.
For the fourth time in BIG EAST history BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Year votes were split. Nikopolidis is Georgetown’s first honoree since 2013’s Tomas Gomez. St. John’s has not earned Goalkeeper of the Year since 2005 with Jason Landers. It is the second-ever honor for both institutions, as the Goalkeeper of the Year award was created in 1998. Nikopolidis was voted to the All-BIG EAST First Team, while Hoffelner was voted to the second team this season in a close vote by the league’s head coaches who were not able to vote for their own players.
Nikopolidis helped Georgetown lead the country in teams goals against average (0.341) rank third in the country in shutout percentage (0.647). On his own, Nikopolidis ranked second nationally in save percentage (0.875) and third in goals against average (0.431). Nikopolidis marked four shutouts on the year and allowed just four goals with 29 saves with a 7-1-1 record. In conference play, he made 13 saves and was unbeaten in net with a 3-0-1 record, with three shutouts and only one goal allowed. Nikopolidis was part of the All-BIG EAST Freshman team last season.
Hoffelner played as part of a tandem goalkeeping team for the Red Storm which allowed just 13 goals over the course of the season. Hoffelner played in all 17 games and allowed just six of those goals for a 0.63 goals against average and a .812 save percentage. He posted a 7-2-0 record and combined for nine shutouts, one on his own. Four of those shutouts were during conference play. Hoffelner posted a 0.91 goals against average in league. Nationally, Hoffelner ranked 13th in goals against average and 11th in save percentage.
Cabrera Jr. is Butler’s second-ever Freshman of the Year. 2016 BIG EAST Player of the Year David Goldsmith earned the honor in 2013. Cabrera Jr. won BIG EAST Freshman of the Week three times this past season and was named BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week once, on Oct. 21. The forward tied for the most points with 19 on Butler’s squad this year with eight goals and three assists. Six of his goals were game-winners. In league action, Cabrera Jr. ranked sixth in the standings with 10 points over nine games.
The Red Storm staff earns Coach of the Year honors for the fourth time, earning the award in 1991, 1993 and 2008. Picked to finish seventh in the preseason coaches’ poll this year, Masur and the Red Storm went 13-3-1 and 6-2-1 in the league to finish second overall. St. John’s climbed as high as No. 4 in the United Soccer Coaches poll this season and has been ranked in the top 10 for seven weeks of the 2019 season. In the first RPI release of the season, St. John’s was No. 1. The Red Storm’s only losses of the year came at the hands of then-No. 25 Maryland, BIG EAST regular-season champion Georgetown and the No. 3 seed in the tournament, Providence.
Announced alongside with the regular season awards were the 2019 All-Conference teams. The All-BIG EAST First and Second Teams are positional with nine positional players, a goalkeeper and an at-large vote the All-BIG EAST Third Team.
In addition to Nealis, three players on the All-BIG EAST First Team were returning honorees from 2018: Georgetown junior forward Derek Dodson, Providence senior midfielder Tiago Mendonca and Marquette senior defender Patrick Seagrist. Along with Montes, Xavier redshirt senior Samson Sergi was also a unanimous pick by the coaches.
Rounding out the All-BIG EAST First Team was Creighton senior midfielder Yudai Tashiro, DePaul senior defender Max de Bruijne and Providence senior defender Joao Serrano.
Top-seed Georgetown and No. 2 seed St. John’s led all schools with six honorees on the all-conference teams. Providence, the third seed in the tournament had five. Butler, Creighton and Marquette each had four and Xavier had three. DePaul, Seton Hall and Villanova had one.
See below for a full listing of the award winners.
2019 BIG EAST Regular Season Awards
Offensive Player of the Year
Tani Oluwasey, St. John’s, So., F
Midfielder of the Year
Jacob Montes, Georgetown, Jr., M
Defensive Player of the Year
Dylan Nealis, Georgetown, Sr., D
Co-Goalkeeper of the Year
Giannis Nikopolidis, Georgetown, So.
Jan Hoffelner, St. John’s, Jr.
Freshman of Year
Wilmer Cabrera Jr., Butler, Fr., F
Coaching Staff of the Year
St. John’s
2019 BIG EAST All-Conference Teams
| First Team |
Second Team * |
Third Team (at-large) * |
Derek Dodson, Georgetown, Jr., F
Tani Oluwaseyi, St. John’s, So., F
^ Samson Sergi, Xavier, R-Sr., F
Yudai Tashiro, Creighton, Sr., M
^ Jacob Montes, Georgetown, Jr., M
Tiago Mendonca, Providence, Sr., M
Max de Bruijne, DePaul, Sr., D
Dylan Nealis, Georgetown, Sr., D
Patrick Seagrist, Marquette, Sr., D
Joao Serrano, Providence, Sr., D
Giannis Nikopolidis, Georgetown, So., GK
|
Wilmer Cabrera, Jr., Butler, Fr., F
Luke Haakenson, Creighton, Sr., F
Achara, Georgetown, Sr., F
Carlton McKenzie, Seton Hall, Sr., F
Sean Zawadzki, Georgetown, So., M
Luka Prpa, Marquette, Sr., M
Paulo Lima, Providence, So., M
Skage Simonsen, St. John’s, So., M
Younes Boudadi, Creighton, Sr., D
Brandon Duarte, St. John’s, Sr, B
Shane Bradley, Villanova, Sr., B
Jan Hoffelner, St. John’s, Jr., GK
|
Brandon Guhl, Butler, Sr., F
Jack Haywood, Butler, So., M
Jared Timmer, Butler, Sr., M
Kuba Polat, Creighton, Jr., M
Connor Alba, Marquette, Sr., M
Josh Coan, Marquette, Sr., F
Austin Aviza, Providence, Sr., GK
Danny Griffin, Providence, Sr., M/F
Brandon Knapp, St. John's, So., M
Einar Lye, St. John's, So., M
Derrick Otim, Xavier, Sr., M
Matthew Rosenberg, Xavier, RS-Jr., GK
|
^ denotes unanimous selection
* due to ties in voting there are extra members on the All-BIG EAST Second and Third Teams