Clendening, Henning Share Player of the Year Honors
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Regular season champion UNCG and nationally-ranked Furman led the way in the Southern Conference men's soccer postseason awards that were announced on Tuesday. Four UNCG players received all-conference citations while Furman paced all schools with six on the all-conference team along with the Co-Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year.
Furman junior forward Coleton Henning and Georgia Southern senior forward Luigi Clendening were named Co-Players of the Year after finishing deadlocked in the balloting conducted among the league's eight head coaches. The tie is the first in the history of the conference. Henning is Furman's 12th player of the year while Clendening joins Tony Moffat (2003) as the only Eagles to claim the honor.
Clendening was the conference's top scorer this season with 13 goals and 31 points to lead the league's most prolific offense. The senior from Augusta, whose 13 goals ranked 12th nationally, recorded five multi-goal games, including two each in wins against conference foes College of Charleston, Elon and Wofford.
Henning, a redshirt junior who hails from Shawnee, Kan., sits third on the conference leaderboard in both goals (7) and points (18) while ranking in the top ten also with four assists. An offensive catalyst for the Paladins, Henning is one of the primary reasons Doug Allison's squad enters this weekend's conference semifinals ranked among the top 20 teams in the nation.
Coach of the Year honors were bestowed upon Appalachian State acting head coach Matt Nelson. Nelson, who took over coaching duties following the death of Shaun Pendleton in September, led the Mountaineers on a remarkable run of 11 straight matches without a defeat (7-0-4) immediately after taking charge of the squad. The streak was ASU's longest since 1978 while the team also set a new school record with 11 shutouts in 18 matches. Nelson is the first ASU mentor to earn Coach of the Year honors from his peers since Aiden Heaney in 2000.
Defender Walker Zimmerman from Furman was voted as the league's Freshman of the Year. The 6'3" center back from Lawrenceville, Ga., was a key part of the Paladins' defensive efforts in 2011 as Furman surrendered 0.80 goals per match. Zimmerman also showed a knack for scoring when pushing forward as he led all SoCon defenders and tied for second on his team with five goals.
Furman led all schools with three first team all-conference members and six overall. Henning and Zimmerman were joined on the first team by goalkeeper Alec Kann.
College of Charleston, Davidson, Georgia Southern and UNCG each placed a pair of players on the first team. Midfielder Sean de Silva and defender Shawn Ferguson represented the Cougars while Davidson's Brian McGue (MF) and Greg Macnamara (D) were honored.
Also earning first-team accolades were Clendening and midfielder Hunter Norton from Georgia Southern along with forward Hakan Ilhan and defender Kris Byrd from regular season champion UNCG.
Appalachian State's Sean Dreybus and College of Charleston's Andy Craven were chosen as members of the all-conference second team as forwards where they were joined by Furman's Martin Ontiveros.
The second team midfielders were Nick Millington (Elon), Daniel Hojaij (Furman), Austin Miller (UNCG) and Alex Hutchins (Wofford).
Rounding out the second team were defenders Ryan Duffy and Lee Williams of Appalachian State and Nicky MacKain of Furman along with goalkeeper Peyton Ford from UNCG.
In addition to the all-conference teams, the coaches also selected an 11-player all-freshman team. Zimmerman was joined by teammates Nikolai Hammer and Clint Ritter to give Furman a league-high three players on the squad. Other freshman honorees were Sekani Sinclair and Nicholas Skoda from Appalachian State, Troy Peterson from College of Charleston, Austin Dunker from Elon, Miller and David Reittinger from UNCG, and Carlos Dominguez-Gonzalez and Forrest Lasso from Wofford.
Coaches were not permitted to vote for their own players or for themselves in the balloting.
The 2011 men's soccer season reaches its climax this weekend as UNCG, Furman, Appalachian State and Elon descend on Boone, N.C., for the semifinals and final of the 2011 Southern Conference Men's Soccer Championship. The semifinals will be held at 4 and 6:30 p.m. Friday with the championship match Sunday at 1 p.m. from the ASU Soccer Stadium at the Ted Mackorell Soccer Complex.
2011 SoCon Men's Soccer All-Conference Team
Co-Players of the Year - Coleton Henning, Jr., F, Furman and Luigi Clendening, Sr., F, Georgia Southern
Coach of the Year - Matt Nelson, Appalachian State
Freshman of the Year - Walker Zimmerman, D, Furman
First Team
F Coleton Henning, Furman
F Luigi Clendening, Georgia Southern
F Hakan Ilhan, UNCG
MF Sean de Silva, College of Charleston
MF Brian McGue, Davidson
MF Hunter Norton, Georgia Southern
D Shawn Ferguson, College of Charleston
D Greg Macnamara, Davidson
D Walker Zimmerman, Furman
D Kris Byrd, UNCG
GK Alec Kann, Furman
Second Team
F Sean Dreybus, Appalachian State
F Andy Craven, College of Charleston
F Martin Ontiveros, Furman
MF Nick Millington, Elon
MF Daniel Hojaij, Furman
MF Austin Miller, UNCG
MF Alex Hutchins, Wofford
D Ryan Duffy, Appalachian State
D Lee Williams, Appalachian State
D Nicky MacKain, Furman
GK Peyton Ford, UNCG
All-Freshman Team
Sekani Sinclair, F, Appalachian State
Nicholas Skoda, F, Appalachian State
Troy Peterson, MF, College of Charleston
Austin Dunker, D, Elon
Nikolai Hammer, F, Furman
Clint Ritter, MF, Furman
Walker Zimmerman, D, Furman
Austin Miller, MF, UNCG
David Reittinger, MF, UNCG
Carlos Dominguez-Gonzalez, F, Wofford
Forrest Lasso, D, Wofford