Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Five USM Players Named to All-LEC Team
Reilly Tabbed as Top Defender; Keller Named Coach of the Year
GORHAM, Maine -- Five members of the University of Southern Maine men's
soccer team have been named to the 2008 All-Little East Conference team that was
announced recently following a vote by the conference's eight head coaches.
Named to the All-Little East first team were senior defender
Colin Reilly
(Evergreen, Colo.), senior forward Greg Cox
(Brookline, Mass./Hebron Academy)
and junior midfielder Peter McHugh
(Scarborough, Maine). Earning spots on the
second team were senior forward Sinisa Bajic
(Belgrade, Serbia/Portland) and
junior goalkeeper David Kreps
(Agawam, Mass./Wilbraham & Monson).
In addition to the five all-conference selections, LEC commissioner
Jonathan Harper also announced that Reilly had been selected by the coaches as
the Defensive Player of the Year, and head coach
Mike Keller was voted by his
peers as the Coach of the Year.
"This is a great honor for these players and our program," commented
Keller. "They deserve the all recognition they've received. They dedicated
themselves to do well this year and their play, and the results they attained,
was indicative of that dedication."
Reilly is the first USM player to be tabbed as the LEC's top defensive
player since the award's inception in 2002. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound defender
has been a stalwart player on the Huskies' back line for four years. This is
the third straight season that Reilly, who was a second team pick in 2006 and
2007, has been named to the all-conference team. A two-time captain, he has
played in all 21 matches this season earning one assist.
Keller is the second USM men's coach to win Coach of the Year honors in the
20-year history of conference. Eric Miller was the previous winner in 2004.
Since taking over the reins of the program from Miller in 2005, Keller is guided
the Huskies to a four-year record of 37-36-5, including 10-or-more wins the last
three seasons, and the program's first-ever LEC regular season title this
season. Last month, Keller, now in his 18th season overall, recorded his 100th
career win when USM defeated Plymouth State University.
"I look at the Coach of the Year award as a team award. If the team does
not go out and work hard to get a positive result, you don't win awards like
this. I definitely look at it as a team award earned by the players and
coaching staff, not one individual," responded Keller when asked for a reaction
to being picked as the top coach.
Cox earned
his third consecutive all-conference honor after having the best
offensive season of his career. The dynamic 5-foot-11 forward, who also played
in midfield, scored nine goals, including three game winners, and dished off
five assists for 23 points.
McHugh picked up his first all-conference accolade after leading the
Huskies in scoring this season with 13 goals and five assists for 31 points.
The 5-foot-10 central midfielder is also one of the top defensive players in the
conference.
Kreps earned a spot on
the second team after fashioning a 1.23 goals
against average in 16 matches. The 5-foot-11 keeper, who transferred to USM in
2007, posted a 9-6-0 record, made 66 saves and had six shutouts this season. He
was named the LEC Goalkeeper of the Week three times during the season.
One of the most feared offensive players in the LEC over the past four
seasons, Bajic picked up his fourth consecutive all-conference honor. In 14
matches this season, Bajic scored six goals, including three game winners, and
has a team-high seven assists for 19 points. The 6-foot-3 forward was a first
team all-conference selection the past two seasons, and a second team selection
in his rookie campaign. The school's second all-time leading scorer, Bajic was
the LEC Rookie of the Year in 2005, and the Offensive Player of the Year in 2006
and 2007.
Southern Maine, 12-8-1 overall, travels to Bangor, Maine, on Wednesday
(1:00 p.m.) to play Husson College in a quarterfinal round match of the Eastern
College Athletic Conference (ECAC) New England Division III Men's Soccer
Tournament.
2008 Little East Conference Men's Soccer Awards
All-Conference First Team
Name Position Year Institution
Greg Cox Forward
Senior Southern Maine
Maxim Fantl Forward Junior Eastern Connecticut
Semir Mehmedovic Forward Junior Plymouth State
Ryan Kelley Midfield Junior Rhode Island College
Peter
McHugh Midfield Sophomore
Southern Maine
Brandon Migliore Midfield Senior Rhode Island College
Romeo Zeqo Midfield Senior UMass Boston
Kyle Bedini Defense Senior Eastern Connecticut
Jim McConville Defense Senior Eastern Connecticut
Colin
Reilly Defense Senior
Southern Maine
Josh Silva Defense Senior Rhode Island College
Dan Michalowski Goalkeeper Senior Western Connecticut
All-Conference Second Team
Name Position Year Institution
Sinisa
Bajic Forward Senior Southern
Maine
Nicholas Boretti Forward Junior Eastern Connecticut
Alex Horne Forward Senior Keene State College
Michael Alves Midfield Sophomore UMass Dartmouth
Chris Bourdeau Midfield Junior Eastern Connecticut
Jarred Goldstein Midfield Junior UMass Dartmouth
Adam Gove Midfield Senior Plymouth State
Gareth Stephens Midfield Senior Plymouth State
Bill Constantine Defense Senior Eastern Connecticut
Damion Noble Defense Junior Western Connecticut
Kory Pacheco Defense Junior Rhode Island College
Aaron Smiles Defense Freshman Eastern Connecticut
David
Kreps Goalkeeper Junior
Southern Maine
Offensive Player of the Year
Maxim Fantl, Junior, Forward, Eastern Connecticut
Defensive Player of the Year
Colin
Reilly, Senior, Back,
University of Southern Maine
Rookie of the Year
Justin O'Connor, Freshman, Goalkeeper, Rhode Island College
Coach of the Year
Mike
Keller, University of
Southern Maine
