VIDEO: Thaylan Silva 2021 Highlight Reel
POMONA, Calif. - For the first time in his career, Thaylan Silva has earned All-American honors, being named a second team All-American by the Division II Conference Commissioner's Association on Wednesday, Dec. 8.
"This is great news," says Carson-Newman men's soccer coach Stephen Lyons. "I am very happy for Thay to receive this award and think it's throughly deserved. He has been outstanding during his career at C-N and I thought this season he really stepped up another level. He is a great role model to the rest of the squad and has been a top student athlete to work with."
Silva was the only player from a SAC school to earn All-American honors this season. Silva is the first eagle to earn All-American honors since Tom Read was named to the Honorable Mention team in 2017. With the award, Silva is the fifth eagle to earn an All-American nod in program history and the third Carson-Newman player to be named second team All-American. Tomas Ostvold earned the award in 2006 while Ross Frame earned the honor in 2013.
This award is another in a long list of honors for Silva this season. The grad student became the second-straight Eagle to earn first-team All-Region laurels from the D2CCA last month since Kensho Yoshikoshi earned the honors following the 2019-20 season.
Silva recorded 11 goals during the 2021 season, fifth most in the SAC and 23rd most in Division II during the regular season. In a span from Oct. 13-23, Silva recorded three-straight braces, the first Eagle to do so since 1994, finding the back of the net twice in matches against LMU, Newberry and Coker. During the match against Newberry, Silva became the program's all-time leader in penalty kicks made, connecting on his sixth of his career and third of the season in the win over the Wolves.
Consistantly peppering the box, Silva recorded 51 shots this season with 26 of those on goal. With 160 career shot attempts and 66 career shots on goal, Silva ranks 10th and eighth in program history in both of those categories.
Silva did not only score for the Eagles, but set up others to score for Carson-Newman, recording four assists this season. His 19 career assists are tied with Robert Hill for fourth most in program history.
Silva was also a steady presence for the Eagles on the pitch, logging 1300 minutes played and starting in all 16 matches this season. He also logged 90 minutes in five matches this season, inlcuding 99 minutes in the Eagles' overtime matches against Coker and Anderson. Silva has played 4306 minutes in his career at Carson-Newman, seventh most all-time.
Silva came up clutch several times for the Eagles, recording four game-winning goals during the 2021 season, the most in the SAC and 16th most in the nation.
The awards poured in for Silva during the season as he was the only player in the SAC this year to earn back-to-back conference player of the week honors. Silva was voted the SAC Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 16 and Oct. 23 this season in a run where the senior from Brazil scored six goals in three matches.
History was made during Silva's senior season when he was named the United Soccer Coaches National Player of the Week on Oct. 18, the first men's soccer player from Carson-Newman to earn the honor and the first soccer player at Carson-Newman to be named National Player of the Week since Lauren Wade earned the accolade for the women's team in 2017.
Silva earned SAC Offensive Player of the Year honors after consistantly stuffing the stat sheet during his senior season. Silva lead the team in goals, points, shots on goal and game-winners during the 2021 season. This is the third straight year that Silva has been named all-conference and second straight year he has earned SAC First-Team honors.
The Brazilian has also earned honors for his work in the classroom, being named CoSIDA Academic All-District for the second straight year. With a 3.75 GPA, the four-time Eagle Scholar graduated with a degree in Communications in December 2020. Silva is currently pursuing an MBA and holds a grad school GPA of 3.80.
A total of 39 student-athletes from 29 institutions are represented on the three All-America Teams in 2021. Rade Novakovich of University of Wisconsin-Parkside was voted as the Ron Lenz National Player of the Year.
Sports Information Directors from NCAA Division II schools and conferences sponsoring men's soccer selected the D2 CCA All-America Team. The process begins at the regional level with all First Team All-Region picks advancing to the national ballot. This marks the 15th year that teams have been selected since the All-America program began in 2006.
The Division II Conference Commissioners Association encourages and promotes Division II athletics and high standards of sportsmanship as important elements of higher education. The CCA is a key communications link among the conferences as they discuss views, policies and regulations that impact Division II intercollegiate athletics and works closely with the NCAA as a communications channel to NCAA Division II member colleges and universities.
