ROCK HILL, S.C. – A school record nine Carson-Newman men's soccer players were named members of the various South Atlantic Conference All-Conference teams the league announced Wednesday morning as the regular season co-champions placed four players on the first-team, two on the second-team and three were named Honorable Mention and the Eagles' coach Richard Moodie swept the league's Coach of the Year honor.
Junior forward Tom Read (London, England), freshman midfielder Thibault Mathorez (Graces, France) and senior defenders Sindre Welo (Trondheim, Norway) and James Ward (Trine Cornwell, England) all received first-team honors. Welo awarded was his third postseason All-SAC accolade and his second inclusion to the first-team, while Ward, Mathorez and Read were included to a postseason team for the first time.
Junior forward Marius Staalby (Trondheim, Norway) and senior goalkeeper Kavi Luchowa (London, England) were included on the second-team and freshman forward Bruno Andrade (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and midfielders Poly Avgousti (Paphos, Cyprus) and Lucas Siqueira (Sao Paulo, Brazil) garnered Honorable Mention honors. Staalby was placed on the second-team for the second-straight year, while the other four made their debuts on the postseason teams.
Moodie was named the men's Coach of the Year for the first time in his career and was awarded his second honor of his career; he was also named the women's Coach of the Year this season. It is the sixth-time a Carson-Newman coach was given the award as former Eagle skipper and current Tusuculum coach Allen Vital picked up the award five times, most recently in 2009, and Stephen Jones was granted the honor in 1991.
"It's an amazing award in a group of fantastic coaches. I think our conference is one of the best and I think we have fantastic coaches throughout the South Atlantic Conference, both on the men and women," Moodie said. "It's a huge accolade to win for me individually for my career, but what really speaks volumes of our season is not the individual accolades between coaches and players, but both teams being able to win such a tough conference speaks volumes of the hard work of the staff, Sarah Tompkins, David Campbell, Wayne Harvey to the secretaries and even the athletic director. It takes a staff to run programs and have the success and I couldn't have done it without them."
Read has tied the school record with 13 assists in a season and that mark leads the conference by three. The junior is tied for third in the SAC with eight goals and leads the conference with 29 points. Read is also second in the league with three game-winning goals. He's also on pace to obliterate the school mark for assists per game with a mark of 0.81; the current mark is 0.68 set by Patrick Olarlere in 1991. Read's first points of his career came against Queens (N.C.) with two assists; he's accumulated 29 points in 12 matches.
Read was named the SAC's Player of the Week on Oct. 12th and also picked up such honors from the Tennessee Sports Writers Association. On four occasions this season, he has scored a goal and contributed at least one assist.
"Tom's found himself as SAC Player of the Week numerous times this season. I think he's one of the players that we brought in this year that's had a huge impact on the squad. He's been a huge asset this year and hopefully, he can carry us in the tournament with his goals and assists. He's a great individual on and off the field and certainly deserving of the award," Moodie said.
Mathorez began his Carson-Newman career with a goal in just his 34th-minute of action. He's also scored against Lenior-Rhyne, Newberry, Mars Hill and Young Harris and also added an assist against the Lions. Mathorez ranked ninth on the team with 18 shots, but missed the past five contests due to an injury sustained against Wingate.
"He's a player that's been riddled with injury and has been in-and-out of the squad with a pretty serious injury towards the end of the season, but for me, one of the most impactful players we've had this year. We get to watch him develop as a person and a footballer for many years to come," Moodie said.
Welo and Ward have started every game this season for the Eagles as the two center backs. Welo is tied with Read for the team lead with eight scores; three of the senior's tallies have come at the penalty spot, which ties him for the school record with Siqueira. Welo's next appearance will set a new school record with 76 games played in his career. He ranks sixth in the record book with 27 career goals and is tied for fifth with five game-winning goals. This season, the Norwegian made the transition from midfielder to center back. Earlier this season, Welo was named CoSIDA Academic All-District with a 3.80 GPA in the classroom.
"He's epitomizes the South Atlantic Conference and the Carson-Newman soccer program. He's a great student-athlete. He's a great individual and a great leader. For us to win conference on his goal over the weekend, it was the way everyone would have wanted it to happen," Moodie said.
This season, Ward has tied his career-high with two goals and tallied his first-career assists. The Englishman has been a defensive force as the sweeper. Both of Ward's goals have come in conference play with scores against Lenoir-Rhyne and Wingate; his assists came against Alabama-Huntsville and Tusculum.
"Maybe last year, he had a bit of an off year, but this year, we get to see the true James Ward. Leadership, distribution, his captaincy role and all the roles he has played for this team on and off the field has been imperative of the success. He's been a role model and leader to the younger guys and the younger generation we are bringing up through the program. Definitely someone I think is a stand-up center back in the South Atlantic Conference," Moodie said.
Staalby notched his seventh-goal of the year in the 4-0 win over Brevard in the SAC Tournament quarterfinal win on Tuesday night, which is a career-high for the junior. Staalby has also added assists on two occasions and fourth on the team with 27 shots.
"Certainly a player that has had an impact on our squad just based on his physicality and the presence he has on the field. Not too many strikers in our conference that are like him or can play big like him. Marius is unique in that," Moodie said.
Luchowa has made every start for Carson-Newman this season in goal and has registered six clean sheets. In his career, the senior has registered 10 shutouts, which is third-most for any keeper that has donned the Orange and Blue. He has a goals against average of 1.11 this season and has only conceded 20 goals.
"This season, you get to see the true Kavi Luchowa. He practices two or three times a day with the rest of the goalkeepers and is always hungry and always wants to do better and always wants to do more. The quality of the play this year has been outstanding. He's been everything we've wanted him to be," Moodie said.
Andrade, Avgousti and Siqueira each picked up their first postseason award; Siqueira earned All-SAC Tournament honor during his freshman season. Andrade registered two goals and five assists; the freshman's first-career goal came against Belmont Abbey on Sept. 9th. Avgousti scored the team's first goal of the season with an Olympico goal off a corner kick in the fourth-minute against UAH. The Cypriot has two total goals and three assists in 2015. Siqueira has three goals and two assists this year.
Wingate's Jon Ander was named Player of the Year and the Bulldogs' goalkeeper Pablo Jara picked up Freshman of the Year honors. Ander led the league with 10 goals, including a strike against Carson-Newman on Oct. 17th; Jara had the lowest goals against average with allowing just 0.81 goals against per contest, but the Brazilian allowed four scores by the Eagles.
Wingate led the league with five players included on the first team, but Carson-Newman had the most players spread through the three teams with nine players; the Bulldogs had eight on the three teams. No other school had more than four players on the teams with Lincoln Memorial, Lenoir-Rhyne and Tusculum each placing a quartet of team members appearing.
First Team All-Conference
F – Jon Ander, Wingate
F – Tom Read, Carson-Newman
F – Corey Brown, Queens
F – Andre Carle, Anderson
MF – Aksel Juul, Wingate
MF – Shaun Gadsby, Wingate
MF – Leonardo da Silva, Lincoln Memorial
MF – Thibault Mathorez, Carson-Newman
D – Alex Nelson, Wingate
D – Nathaniel Johnson, Lincoln Memorial
D – James Ward, Carson-Newman
D – Sindre Welo, Carson-Newman
GK – Pablo Jara, Wingate
Second Team All-Conference
F – Ismael Noumansana, Lenoir-Rhyne
F – Marius Staalby, Carson-Newman
F – Danilo da Silva, Lincoln Memorial
F – Charlie Machell, Wingate
MF – Leon Mueller-Wiesen, Lenoir-Rhyne
MF – Callum Ross, Wingate
MF – Erik Dahlbeck, Anderson
MF – Henrique Rezek, Lincoln Memorial
D – Damian Gaona, Wingate
D – Christian McArthur, Mars Hill
D – Dominic McLaren, Tusculum
D – Ryo Ogawa, Anderson
GK – Kavi Luchowa, Carson-Newman
Honorable Mention All-Conference
F – Kenny Bonilla, Catawba
F – Andreas Kvam, Tusculum
F – Bruno Andrade, Carson-Newman
F – Ryan McPhillips, Brevard
MF – Marc-Kevin Schwenk, Queens
MF – Amine Merdjett, Mars Hill
MF – Polymnios Avgousti, Carson-Newman
MF – Lucas Siqueira, Carson-Newman
D – Guillermo Lazcano, Tusculum
D – Austin Huddy, Queens
D – Tom Seery, Lenoir-Rhyne
D – Dejean Charlton, Lenoir-Rhyne
GK – Jorge Alvarez, Tusculum (T)
GK – Heath Turner, Brevard (T)
Soccer Player of the Year
Jon Ander, F, Wingate
Freshman of the Year
Pablo Jara, GK, Wingate
Coach of the Year
Richard Moodie, Carson-Newman
2015 Men's Soccer Statistical Champions
Goals per Match: Leonardo da Silva, Lincoln Memorial (0.62)
Points per Match: Tom Read, Carson-Newman (1.67)
Assists per Match: Tom Read, Carson-Newman (0.73)
Goals Against Average: Pablo Jara, Wingate (0.861)
Save Percentage: Heath Turner, Brevard (0.809)
Shutouts: Pablo Jara, Wingate (7)
Team Points per Match: Carson-Newman (7.18)
Team Goals per Match: Carson-Newman (2.59)
Team Assists per Match: Carson-Newman/Wingate (2.00)
Team Shutouts: Lenoir-Rhyne/Wingate/Tusculum (6)
Team Goals Against Average: Wingate (0.86)
Team Winning Percentage: Carson-Newman (.853)
Fair Play Award: Wingate
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