Empire 8 Announces Men's Soccer All-Conference Team; Nolan Sandberg of Stevens Named Player of the Year
November 5, 2009
ROCHESTER, NY – The Empire 8 announced its 2009 Men’s Soccer All-Conference team with junior midfielder Nolan Sandberg of Stevens Institute of Technology being selected as Player of the Year.
Sandberg leads all Empire 8 midfielders with nine goals and 20 points, including four goals and eight points in conference play, where the two-time defending champion Ducks posted a 5-1-1 regular season record and earned the second seed in the Empire 8 Men’s Soccer Championship.
Senior forward Terrence Johnson and senior back Chris Faustino of Stevens repeated as first-team all-conference players. Johnson has totaled seven goals and 18 points, while Faustino anchors the Ducks’ defense that has limited opponents to six goals in 17 games (two in Empire 8 play).
Junior goalkeeper Zach Carr gave Stevens four first-team all-conference players. Carr, who earned second-team honors in each of his first two seasons, has posted a 0.35 goals against average and recorded 12 shutouts in 17 games.
Freshman forward Alex Manchev, who scored the game-winning goal that sealed the top seed for Nazareth College, was named Empire 8 Rookie of the Year and earned a spot on the all-conference first team. He has scored seven goals heading into the postseason. Senior back Mohammed Ahamed of Nazareth made the all-conference first team for the third time in his career. He paces the Golden Flyers’ defense, which yielded one goal in seven Empire 8 contests.
A pair of Rochester Institute of Technology midfielders garnered first-team all-conference recognition. Senior Jeff Diaz, a two-time second-team selection, has recorded seven points. Junior Dominic Colaprete has tallied seven goals and 15 points.
Senior forward Luke Lennox of St. John Fisher College, the 2007 Empire 8 Player of the Year, was named to the all-conference first team for the third time in his three-year career with the Cardinals. He has scored six times and assisted on six goals.
Senior back Michael Jordhamo of Ithaca College repeated as a first-team all-conference selection.
Senior Brian Haschke of Elmira College, the 2006 Rookie of the Year, was named to the all-conference first team after leading all conference scorers with 10 goals and 27 points.
Jeremiah Kneeland of Elmira was named the Doug May Memorial Coach for keeping the Soaring Eagles in the playoff hunt and handing Stevens only its second conference loss in three seasons. The coaching award is named after May, who coached RIT from 1980 to 1996 and Nazareth from 1997 to 2003 before passing away in April 2004.
Empire 8 2009 Men’s Soccer All-Conference Awards
Player of the Year: Nolan Sandberg, Stevens Institute of Technology
Rookie of the Year: Alex Manchev, Nazareth College
Doug May Memorial Coach of the Year: Jeremiah Kneeland, Elmira College