Sun Belt announces 2016 Men’s Soccer All-Conference Teams and individual awards
Atlanta, Ga.. – The Sun Belt Conference announced its Men’s Soccer All-Conference teams and individual award winners on Wednesday ahead of the start of the 2016 Men’s Soccer Championship on Thursday at the GSU Soccer Complex in Atlanta, Ga.
The all-conference selections and individual award winners were chosen in a vote by the league’s six head coaches.
Georgia State sophomore Hannes Burmeister swept the Player of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year honors. Burmeister led the Sun Belt in points (25) and goals (11) this season. He helped Georgia State finish the season ranked ninth in the country in scoring offense (2.00 goals per game). Burmeister finished individually ranked eighth in the country in goals per game (0.69) and 19th with 1.56 points per game.
Georgia Southern sophomore Emil Laursen earned the Defensive Player of the Year award. He started 13 games for the Eagles and anchored a back line that featured three freshmen. Laursen scored three goals on the season, all game-winning goals.
Georgia State’s Kyle Clinton and Hartwick’s Hamish Ritchie earned Co-Freshman of the Year honors. Clinton scored three game-winning goals on the year on eight shots. The defender has helped the team to five shutouts on the season. Ritchie scored two goals and dished out three assists this season for seven points.
Georgia State junior Nick Hague earned the Newcomer of the Year award, given to the top first-year student-athlete that is not a freshman as voted on by the coaches. Hague scored a goal and added two assists this season.
Georgia Southern first-year head coach John Murphy earned the Sun Belt’s Coach of the Year award. Murphy led the Eagles to an 8-7-3 record and a share of the Sun Belt regular season title this season.
The Sun Belt awarded all-conference awards to 22 student-athletes at the pre-championship banquet on Wednesday night. Coastal Carolina and Georgia State led the way with six honorees while Hartwick placed five student-athletes on the all-conference awards list and Georgia Southern placed four.
The preseason favorite Coastal Carolina Chanticleers earned the No. 1 seed for this year’s tournament, hosted by Georgia State University. The Chanticleers finished in a tie for the regular-season title with Georgia Southern, but earned the top seed by virtue of a tiebreaker. The 2016 Sun Belt Men’s Soccer Championship begins tomorrow afternoon from the GSU Soccer Complex. First round matches feature No. 4 seed Hartwick vs. No. 5 seed Appalachian State at 3 p.m. ET with a match between No. 3 seed and host Georgia State against No. 6 seed Howard to follow at 6:30 p.m. ET.
All matches will be streamed live for free by the Sun Belt Digital Network and available for viewing on SunBeltSports.org. The championship match will be broadcasted by ESPN3 on Sunday with first touch scheduled for 1 p.m. ET. The match will also be available on WatchESPN and the ESPN app.
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First Team All-Conference
Stephen Chapman (Appalachian State, Senior, Forward)
Frantzdy Pierrot (Coastal Carolina, Junior, Forward)
Blake Wilson (Georgia Southern, Junior, Forward)
Hannes Burmeister (Georgia State, Sophomore, Midfielder)
Max Hemmings (Georgia State, Sophomore, Midfielder)
Johnny McBeth (Hartwick, Junior, Midfielder)
Einar Einarsson (Coastal Carolina, Senior, Defender)
Emil Laursen (Georgia Southern, Sophomore, Defender)
Kyle Clinton (Georgia State, Freshman, Defender)
Elliott Bentley (Hartwick, Freshman, Defender)
Yannic Horn (Georgia State, Junior, Goalkeeper
Second Team All-Conference
Martin Melchor (Coastal Carolina, Junior, Forward)
Frank Rosenwald (Georgia State, Freshman, Forward)
Mike Rood (Hartwick, Senior, Forward)
Sander Wang (Georgia Southern, Freshman, Midfielder)
Nick Wells (Georgia Southern, Junior, Midfielder)
Jack Donaldson (Hartwick, Senior, Midfielder)
Hamish Ritchie (Hartwick, Freshman, Midfielder)
Elis Bjornsson (Coastal Carolina, Senior, Defender)
Ryan Reid (Coastal Carolina, Senior, Defender)
Liam Fitzsimmons (Georgia State, Junior, Defender)
Braulio Linares-Ortiz (Coastal Carolina, Junior, Goalkeeper)
Player of the Year
Hannes Burmeister (Georgia State, Sophomore, Midfielder)
Offensive Player of the Year
Hannes Burmeister (Georgia State, Sophomore, Midfielder)
Defensive Player of the Year
Emil Laursen (Georgia Southern, Sophomore, Defender)
Newcomer of the Year
Nick Hague (Georgia State, Junior, Midfielder)
Co-Freshmen of the Year
Kyle Clinton (Georgia State, Freshman, Defender)
Hamish Ritchie (Hartwick, Freshman, Midfielder)
Coach of the Year
John Murphy, Georgia Southern