Big South Announces 2017 Men's Soccer Annual Awards
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Radford redshirt-junior forward Kieran Roberts (Bournemouth, England) has been voted the 2017 Big South Men’s Soccer Attacking Player of the Year, while teammate Fraser Colmer (Southampton, England) and High Point’s Rashid Tetteh (Accra, Ghana) were voted Co-Defensive Players of the Year by the conference’s head coaches, it was announced this morning by the league office. Campbell midfielder Alemu Mercer-Miko (Llucmajor, Spain) was tabbed Freshman of the Year, and High Point’s EJ O’Keeffe was voted Coach of the Year. In addition, the Big South’s sports information directors voted Colmer as the men’s soccer Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive season.
Roberts is the first Radford player to be voted Big South Attacking Player of the Year since the award was established in 2011. He concluded the regular-season as the conference leader with 15 goals and 31 points, and ranks second nationally in goals and third in goals per game at 0.88. Roberts leads the nation with 5.25 shots per contest, as well as 2.69 shots on goal per match. He also ranks fifth in NCAA Division I in scoring while his 1.88 points per game average is ninth. Roberts tallied four multi-goal games in 2017 -- including two hat tricks and a four-goal effort against Gardner-Webb on Oct. 14. A three-time Big South Attacking Player of the Week honoree, Roberts tied for the league-lead with eight goals in conference games, and was tops with 17 points (2.12 per match) against Big South foes. Roberts collected 21 points in the Attacking Player of the Year voting, ahead of Campbell’s JJ Donnelly (16 points) and Gardner-Webb’s Severin Soerlie (11 points).
Colmer and Tetteh each received 17 points in the Defensive Player of the Year voting. Colmer is the third consecutive Highlander to be voted Defensive Player of the Year, as he aided five shutouts this season for Radford. He was a two-time Defensive Player of the Week selection in 2017, and of the Big South’s Top 10 scorers this season, Colmer allowed just four goals to checked players. Colmer led the Radford backline in the squad’s 1-0 victory at No. 10 Virginia on Oct. 17 as the Highlanders held the Cavaliers to four first-half shots and scoreless for just the second time in 2017. Academically, Colmer is a 3.99 student in business management, and was the Big South’s Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2016-17. He is one of 10 national finalists for the 2017 Senior CLASS Award.
Tetteh is the first Panther to be honored with the Big South’s Defensive Player of the Year honor. He started all 17 regular-season games at center back, and played all but 15 minutes in eight conference matches. Tetteh’s play on the defensive side was the catalyst for the Panthers’ league-leading five shutouts in Big South games and the fewest goals allowed in conference matches (3). HPU’s 0.38 goals-against average in league match-ups was also tops in the conference. Overall, Tetteh’s efforts helped High Point to league-bests for fewest goals allowed (14) and most shutouts (7).
Mercer-Miko is the second Camel in four years to be voted Big South Freshman of the Year. He has been a consistent distributor through the midfield this season, and contributed a goal and assist as well as 23 shots. Mercer-Miko started 13 of 17 games and has played close to 1,200 minutes for the Camels. He earned 18 points in the Freshman of the Year voting, ahead of Radford’s Max Edwards (13 points) and Presbyterian’s Adrian Edo Martin (10).
O’Keeffe earns his first Big South Coach of the Year honor as he led High Point to its first Big South regular-season championship since 2010. The Panthers finished league play at 7-1-0 for 21 points -- the program’s most Big South wins in eight seasons. O’Keeffe’s squad allowed the fewest goals in Big South matches (3), had the lowest goals-against average in conference games (0.38) and recorded five shutouts in its seven victories. The Panthers ranked third in goals scored (16) and goals per game (2.00) in league action. Overall, HPU went 9-5-3 during the regular-season and enters the Big South Championship first in fewest goals allowed, GAA and shutouts. O’Keeffe collected 19 points in the voting, ahead of Campbell’s Dustin Fonder and Gardner-Webb’s Tony Setzer, who tied with 11 points.
The league also announced the 2017 All-Conference, All-Freshman and All-Academic teams Friday morning, which are listed below. As selected by the head coaches, the All-Conference team features three forwards, four midfielders, four defenders, one goalkeeper and one at-large selection on each team, plus five honorable mention honorees regardless of position. The All-Freshman team is comprised of 11 players regardless of position, while the All-Academic Team consists of one student-athlete from each institution that meets the criteria and is nominated and selected by the Big South’s sports information directors.
2017 Big South Conference Men’s Soccer Award Winners
First-Team All-Conference
F: Kieran Roberts, R-Jr., Radford
F: JJ Donnelly, Jr., Campbell
F: Sivert Daehlie, Jr., Radford
MF: Kevin Mendoza, Jr., Liberty
MF: Jonathan Bolanos, Soph., High Point
MF: Ebe Kudolo, Sr., High Point
MF: Victor Valls, R-Soph., Radford
D: Fraser Colmer, Sr., Radford
D: Rashid Tetteh, Jr., High Point
D: Johnny Fenwick, Jr., High Point
D: Gideon Betz, Soph., Campbell
GK: Keegan Meyer, Soph., High Point
AL: Tresor Mbuyu, Jr., Liberty
Second-Team All-Conference
F: Severin Soerlie, Soph, Gardner-Webb
F: Magnus Moldjord, Soph., Gardner-Webb
F: Max Hasenstab, R-Sr., Winthrop
MF: Evan Szklennik, Sr., Radford
MF: Ryan Inman, Soph., High Point
MF: Pepe Segarra, Sr., Liberty
MF: Sergio Pinto, MF, Soph., Presbyterian
D: Simen Sundborg Olsen, Soph., Gardner-Webb
D: Tom Devitt, Sr., Longwood
D: Max Edwards, Fr., Radford
D: Alex Dominguez, Sr., Liberty
GK: Matthew Mozynski, Sr., Campbell
AL: Alemu Mercer-Miko, Fr., Campbell
Honorable Mention All-Conference
Gabe Parrish, D, Jr., Campbell
Bana Ganidekam, MF, Soph., High Point
Nil Vinyals, MF, Sr., Winthrop
Dante Bova, D, Fr., UNC Asheville
Jack Hoey, MF, Jr., Gardner-Webb
All-Freshman Team
Alemu Mercer-Miko, MF, Fr., Campbell
Max Edwards, D, Fr., Radford
Dante Bova, D, Fr., UNC Asheville
Adrian Edo Martin, MF, Fr., Presbyterian
Oskar Wang, MF, Fr., Gardner-Webb
Humberto Chavez, MF, Fr., Campbell
Clement Vannier, F, Fr., Presbyterian
Noy Daabul, D, Fr., Radford
Petter Johansen, MF, Fr., Gardner-Webb
Victor Menudier, D, Fr., Presbyterian
Jonas Olsaker, D, Fr., Gardner-Webb
All-Academic Team
Gideon Betz, D, Soph., Campbell
Magnus Moldjord, MF, Soph., Gardner-Webb
Jonathan Ware, D, R-Sr., High Point
Nico Bellarde, D, Jr., Liberty
Vaughn Fowler, D, Sr., Longwood
Ricardo Hernandez, MF, Soph., Presbyterian College
Fraser Colmer, D, Sr., Radford
Joe LaCasto, MF, Jr., UNC Asheville
Max Hasenstab, F, R-Sr., Winthrop
Attacking Player of the Year
Kieran Roberts, F, R-Jr., Radford
Co-Defensive Player of the Year
Fraser Colmer, D, Sr., Radford
Rashid Tetteh, D, Jr., High Point
Freshman of the Year
Alemu Mercer-Miko, MF, Fr., Campbell
Coach of the Year
EJ O’Keeffe, High Point
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Fraser Colmer, D, Sr., Radford