11.13.2002 2002 Men's Soccer Award Winners
Jason Cole |
Conference USA announced its 2002 all-league teams and postseason award winners this afternoon in St. Louis, site of the Conference USA Men?s Soccer Tournament. Four different schools produced the winners of the four major individual awards and five different schools are represented on the All-Conference first team.
Louisville head coach TONY COLAVECCHIA was named the Conference USA Coach of the Year. After a 0-3-1 start in league play, Colavecchia guided his team to a third-place finish and a berth in the C-USA Tournament by winning its final six conference contests to finish with a 6-3-1 league record. The six league wins are the most ever by the Cardinals in C-USA play and U o f L?s third place finish is also its best ever.
Saint Louis forward JASON COLE, the league?s leading goal scorer (16 goals, 0.94 per match), is the Conference USA Player of the Year. Cole, who began the year on defense before making the move the forward spot, also leads the league in points (37), ranking ninth nationally with an average of 2.18 points per game. This marks the third-straight year that a Saint Louis player has garnered the league?s Player of the Year honor. SLU?s Jack Jewsbury and Dipsy Selolwane won the award in 2000 and 2001, respectively.
Defenders ADRIAN CANN of Louisville and STEVE LAWRENCE of Marquette were named the first-ever Conference USA Co-Defensive Players of the Year. Cann saw action in every contest this season for the Cardinals, helping the U of L defense produce five shutouts and limit their final six opponents to just three total goals. Lawrence played in every match for the Golden Eagles this season, helping Marquette post five shutouts in helping the Golden Eagles to a share of their first regular season Conference USA title since 1997.
South Florida forward HUNTER WEST is the Conference USA Freshman of the Year, becoming the first USF player to earn that honor. West ranks second in the league in goals (13) and points (29), notching three multiple-goal games, including a hat trick against Memphis this season. He also earned a spot on the All-Conference first team.
The four individual award winners are joined on the First Team All-Conference USA by forward FLAVIO MONTEIRO (UAB), midfielders JACK JEWSBURY and JOE HAMMES (Saint Louis), MARIN PUSEK (UAB) and JEFF THWAITES (South Florida), defender NICK GANNON (SAINT LOUIS) and goalkeeper CLINT BAUMSTARK (UAB).
Tournament host Saint Louis, which shared the regular season championship with Marquette, led the way with four first team selections, followed by UAB with three and South Florida with two. Louisville and Marquette each placed one player on the first team.
Thursday?s quarterfinal matches feature fourth-seeded South Florida (11-6-0, 6-4-0) against fifth-seeded Cincinnati (9-7-2, 5-4-1) at 5:30 p.m. and third-seeded Louisville (8-10-2, 6-3-1) against sixth-seeded UAB (9-6-3, 4-4-2) at 8:00 p.m. The winner of the South Florida-Cincinnati match meets top-seeded Marquette (10-7-1, 7-2-1) at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, while second-seeded Saint Louis (12-3-2, 7-2-1) meets the winner of the Louisville-UAB match Friday at 8:00 p.m. Sunday?s championship match will be played at 1:00 p.m. CST and will be televised by affiliates of the Conference USA Television Network. DON RUSSELL will handle the play-by-play duties and BILL McDERMOTT will provide color commentary.
2002 CONFERENCE USA MEN?S SOCCER AWARDS
First-Team All-Conference USA
F: Jason Cole, Saint Louis
F: Hunter West, South Florida
F: Flavio Monteiro, UAB
MF: Jack Jewsbury, Saint Louis
MF: Joe Hammes, Saint Louis
MF: Marin Pusek, UAB
MF: Jeff Thwaites, South Florida
D: Adrian Cann, Louisville
D: Steve Lawrence, Marquette
D: Nick Gannon, Saint Louis
GK: Clint Baumstark, UAB
Second-Team All-Conference USA
F: Simon Bird, Louisville
F: Derek Gutierrez, Marquette
F: Mira Mupier, Charlotte
MF: Nick Walls, Saint Louis
MF: Mike Robards, Marquette
MF: Josh Gardner, Cincinnati
MF: Tim Brown, Cincinnati
D: Chris Schmidt, Memphis
D: Kevin Wickart, Saint Louis
D: Jared Vock, South Florida
GK: Troy Perkins, South Florida
Third-Team All-Conference USA
F: Wiremu Patrick, Cincinnati
F: Luke Rojo, DePaul
F: Eric Marshall, Marquette
MF: Clyde Simms, East Carolina
MF: Mike Kirchhoff, Saint Louis
MF: Shane Carew, Charlotte
MF: Fernando Tolomelli, Louisville
D: Tom Nolan, Marquette
D: Brandon Dobbs, Cincinnati
D: Tony McManus, UAB
GK: Martin Hutton, Saint Louis
All-Freshman (No position restriction)
Hunter West, South Florida
Cooper McKee, Saint Louis
Omar Jarun, Memphis
Jelani Grant, Louisville
Jarrett Devereaux, Cincinnati
Floyd Franks, Charlotte
Dayton O?Brien, Memphis
Daniel Ronan, Memphis
Danny Wynn, Saint Louis
Brad Sokolowski, Louisville
Matthew Neeley, Louisville
Freshman of the Year
Hunter West, South Florida
Co-Defensive Player of the Year
Adrian Cann, Louisville
Steve Lawrence, Marquette
Player of the Year
Jason Cole, Saint Louis
Coach of the Year
Tony Colavecchia, Louisville