Men’s soccer awards announced, Pierrot named Player of the Year
NEW ORLEANS– The Sun Belt Conference announced the 2017 Men’s Soccer All-Sun Belt teams and individual awards on Wednesday with Coastal Carolina senior Frantzdy Pierrot earning the Player of the Year honor.
Pierrot was the 2017 Preseason Player of the Year and a 2016 First Team All-Sun Belt selection. Hartwick senior Jamie O’Grady is the Offensive Player of the Year while Georgia State sophomore Kyle Clinton earned the Defensive Player of the Year honor. Georgia Southern junior Javier Carbonell earned Newcomer of the Year laurels, which recognizes the top non-freshman student-athlete in their first year of competition. His teammate Aldair Cortes earned the Freshman of the Year honor, while Coastal Carolina head coach Shaun Docking earned his first ever Sun Belt Coach of the Year award.
The all-conference teams and individual awards were chosen by a vote of the league’s six head coaches.
Pierrot scored a team high 16 points with seven goals and two assists, including a game-winning goal against No.2 Maryland. He earned Sun Belt Player of the Week honors twice and is a 2017 MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List nominee. Pierrot started 14 out of 15 games and played 905 minutes this season.
O’Grady led the Sun Belt in points (28), goals (14), game-winning goals (5) and shots (62). He scored five goals, including one game-winning tally, during conference play. O’Grady, who won the 2015 Sun Belt Offensive Student-Athlete of the Year award, returned this year following an injury-shortened 2016 season to set new career marks for goals scored and points.
Clinton scored three goals in 14 matches this season and made 13 starts. The sophomore lead the defense of a Georgia State team that notched five shutouts and allowed just 13 goals in the matches he played in. Clinton was a Co-Freshman of the Year honoree last year.
Carbonell led the Sun Belt with eight assists this season and ranked among the Top 20 in NCAA Division I in assists per game. He notched four goals for 16 points, which is fourth in the Sun Belt. Five of his eight assists have come on game-winning goals for the Eagles.
Cortes started all 16 matches for Georgia Southern this season as a left back. He scored three goals including two game-winning goals against Coastal Carolina on Sept. 16 and Stetson on Oct. 24. He earned the Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week award on Oct. 3.
Docking led Coastal Carolina to a second straight Sun Belt regular-season title. The Chanticleers went 10-6-1 in the regular season and are currently receiving 34 votes for the United Soccer Coaches Top 25.
The preseason favorite Coastal Carolina Chanticleers earned the No. 1 seed for a second consecutive year in the Sun Belt men’s soccer tournament. The Chanticleers, the host of this year’s tournament, await their first match on Friday at 7 p.m. ET from the CCU Soccer Complex in Conway, S.C. The championship begins tomorrow at 4 p.m. ET with the No. 3 Georgia Southern vs. No. 6 Appalachian State first round match, followed by No. 4 Hartwick vs. No. 5 Howard at 7 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.
First Team All-Sun Belt
Frantzdy Pierrot (Coastal Carolina, Senior, Forward)
Rashid Alarape (Georgia State, Senior, Forward)
Hannes Burmeister (Georgia State, Junior, Forward)
Jamie O’Grady (Hartwick, Senior, Forward)
Louis Dargent (Coastal Carolina, Senior, Midfielder)
Javier Carbonell (Georgia Southern, Junior, Midfielder)
Nick Hague (Georgia State, Senior, Midfielder)
Kervin Fadel (Coastal Carolina, Junior, Defender)
Miguel Gutierrez (Coastal Carolina, Senior, Defender)
Kyle Clinton (Georgia State, Sophomore, Defender)
Braulio Linares-Ortiz (Coastal Carolina, Senior, Goalkeeper)
Second Team All-Sun Belt
Martin Melchor (Coastal Carolina, Senior, Forward)
Romario Piggott (Coastal Carolina, Junior, Forward)
Blake Wilson (Georgia Southern, Senior, Forward)
Max Hemmings (Georgia State, Junior, Midfielder)
Hamish Ritchie (Hartwick, Sophomore, Midfielder)
Johnny McBeth (Hartwick, Senior, Midfielder)
Aldair Cortes (Georgia Southern, Freshman, Defender)
Emil Laursen (Georgia Southern, Junior, Defender)
Liam Fitzsimmons (Georgia State, Junior, Defender)
Yannic Horn (Georgia State, Senior, Goalkeeper)
Lenny Wilson (Hartwick, Junior, Goalkeeper)
Player of the Year
Frantzdy Pierrot (Coastal Carolina, Senior, Forward)
Offensive Player of the Year
Jamie O’Grady (Hartwick, Senior, Forward)
Defensive Player of the Year
Kyle Clinton (Georgia State, Sophomore, Defender)
Newcomer of the Year
Javier Carbonell (Georgia Southern, Junior, Forward)
Freshman of the Year
Aldair Cortes (Georgia Southern, Defender)
Coach of the Year
Shaun Docking, Coastal Carolina