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All-Ivy Men's Soccer -- 2008
Created: 11/19/2008 1:00:32 PM
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In a year filled with drama and excitement at seemingly every Ivy League match, it took until the final weekend (plus a little extra time) to determine the League champion(s) and automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Penn's Loukas Tasignianis was the hero when he buried a breakaway opportunity in overtime to seal the League's automatic bid and a share of the overall title. But it took every bit of mettle for Penn to hold back the Harvard offensive onslaught just to keep pace with a surging team from Hanover, N.H. that had seized control of standings table two days before.
Sound confusing?
In any other year it would be just that. But in 2008, expecting the unexpected became the norm. And as Dartmouth, Harvard and Penn shimmied into position for a shot at the League title on the final weekend, somehow, someway, you just knew that a bit of magic would endure and shake things up.
And it did just that.
Fortunately, with great parity in a League race, the best brand of soccer emerges. It is reflected heavily in the All-Ivy selections. Penn led the League with eight players being recognized, followed by Dartmouth (7), Harvard (5), Brown, Princeton and Yale (each with 4), Cornell (3) and Columbia (2). Harvard had the most players named to the first team as four of the five nominated players garnered a first-team accolades. But it was Dartmouth that earned the coveted superlative prizes as the Big Green swept the Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards, both in unanimous fashion.
Dartmouth's Craig Henderson (Wellington, New Zealand) leads the way for Big Green with his often selfless play. A talisman in the midfield, the New Zealand U-23 international is the maestro for the offense. Starting 16 games on the year, the senior midfielder has contributed six goals to go along with five assists. A brilliant passer of the ball, Henderson was also selected unanimously as a first-team All Ivy midfielder. A year ago, the Kiwi was honored on the second team.
Joining Henderson with the heavy hardware for the season is freshman sensation, Lucky Mkosana (Bulawayo, Zimbabwe), whose deadly scoring touch has been instrumental to the Big Green attack and is something that Dartmouth teams of the past may have been lacking. The unanimous first-team selection earned Rookie of the Week honors on four occasions and even took the Player of the Week selection on Nov. 10. Mkosana led the League in goals with six in seven games. He finished with 24 points on the year with 11 goals and two assists.
In all, six players were honored with unanimous first team selections for Men's soccer. In addition to the aforementioned Dartmouth tandem, Brown's Rhett Bernstein (San Diego, Calif.), Penn's Alex Grendi (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.) and Harvard teammates Andre Akpan (Grand Prairie, Texas) and John Stamatis (Mountainside, N.J.) earned the distinction.
Bernstein returns to the All-Ivy first team after anchoring a rebuilt Bruno defense. After solidifying the undefeated 2007 Ivy champion backfield, the senior earned the nod after anchoring a fairly young Bears team to a 9-7-1 record in 2008. The preseason Hermann Trophy candidate also had four goals and two assists on the year.
Grendi flashed onto the scene after seemingly coming out of nowhere for the Quakers. A strong presence in the midfield that quietly goes about his business, the senior fired home two goals on the year and contributed five assists. He was a catalyst to a strong Penn midfield that often controlled games and dictated much of the play.
Harvard also enjoyed a heavy presence in the first-team awards. The Crimson's deadly attack partnership of Akpan and Mike Fucito (Westford, Mass.) were named first team selections at the forward position. Akpan's selection was unanimous by the Ivy coaches after leading the Crimson with 24 points on nine goals and six assists. Couple that with Fucito's nine goals and four assists in 14 games and you can see why the Harvard duo is one of the most lethal attacking combinations in the nation. Fucito was plagued by a rash of injuries in his senior campaign, but was a force to be reckoned with when he was on the pitch
But attacking partnerships can only be as good as the midfield allows them to be. Enter Stamatis, who often put the strike force in positive positions for good things to occur. As attested by nine assists, the senior was brilliant in the midfield. He also contributed five goals, displaying a deft scoring touch in the final third as well, making a case for his first-team unanimous selection.
Penn's Omid Shokoufandeh (Los Angeles, Calif.) was honored with a spot on the first team after having a year in which seemingly everything he touched turned to goals. A three-time Player of the Week, the senior scored nine of the Quakers 32 tallies on the year. He was especially potent in League matches, scoring five times in seven games.
Rounding out the selections are defenders Matt Care (Newtown, Pa.) of Princeton, Kwaku Nyamekye (Geneva, Switzerland) of Harvard and Dartmouth's mammoth-sized goalkeeper Sean Milligan (Westport, Conn.).
To fully understand the selection of Care to the first team, you had to have watched Princeton play over the course of the season. The senior did not have a single recordable stat, but without him, the Tigers would have found any success to be extremely difficult. If ever there was an oil that made the engine work, Care was that oil, and Princeton's season was the engine. Not only was he the backbone of the Tiger defense that played both Dartmouth and Penn to ties, but he was the emotional leader that drove the team.
A second-team selection a year ago, Nyamekye earned a call-up after leading Harvard to a 5-2-0 record in the League while surrendering a miniscule four goals in seven games. The junior has found some offensive form as well, scoring three goals for the Crimson. Blessed with the physical attributes of strength and pace, Nyamekye is also a very cerebral defender that anticipates well and is effective at playing would-be attackers out of games.
The venerable and formidable presence of Milligan in goal made the Big Green a chore to score against for a second year in a row. The two-time All-Ivy first team selection (2007 and 2008) anchored a fairly rebuilt defensive line that played at a comparable level to the vaunted 2007 team. Surrounding just five goals in the League, and fifteen goals overall despite facing some of the best competition in the nation proves that the return selection is warranted. The senior will graduate as one of the best goalkeepers in the history of the League.
Dartmouth, Harvard and Penn were selected to compete in the 2008 NCAA Championships. Dartmouth were selected as the tournament's No. 16 national seed by virtue of a rigorous non-league schedule, impressive results (including a 4-0 thrashing of the No. 6 seed Indiana Hoosiers) and a highly regarded RPI rating. The Big Green will await the winner of Boston College and Colgate on Tuesday, Nov. 25 at 6 pm.
Penn earned a date in Fairfax, Va. with Colonial Athletic Association champion George Mason on Friday, Nov. 21 at 7 pm while Harvard travels to Atlantic-10 champion, and defending National semi-finalist, Massachusetts for a fixture at noon on Saturday, Nov. 22.
First Team All-Ivy (11)
*Andre Akpan, Harvard (Jr., F, Grand Prairie, Texas)
Mike Fucito, Harvard (Sr., F, Westford, Mass.)
*Lucky Mkosana, Dartmouth (Fr., F, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe)
Omid Shokoufandeh, Penn (Sr., F, Los Angeles, Calif.)
*Alex Grendi, Penn (Sr., M, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.)
*Craig Henderson, Dartmouth (Sr., M, Wellington, New Zealand)
*John Stamatis, Harvard (Sr., M, Mountainside, N.J.)
*Rhett Bernstein, Brown (Sr., D, San Diego, Calif.)
Matt Care, Princeton (Sr., Newtown, Pa.)
Kwaku Nyamekye, Harvard (Jr., D, Geneva, Switzerland)
Sean Milligan, Dartmouth (Sr., GK, Westport, Conn.)
Player of the Year
*Craig Henderson, Dartmouth (Sr., M, Wellington, New Zealand)
Rookie of the Year
*Lucky Mkosana, Dartmouth (Fr., F, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe)
* - Unanimous selection
Second Team All-Ivy (12)
Bayo Adafin, Columbia (So., F, Rochester, Minn.)
Antoine Hoppenot, Princeton (Fr., F, Princeton, N.J.)
Nick Elenz-Martin, Brown (Jr., M, Encinitas, Calif.)
Brian Mascarenhas, Penn (Sr., M, Marietta, Ga.)
Devin Muntz, Princeton (Jr., M, Macungie, Pa.)
Andrew Olsen, Dartmouth (So., M, Norwell, Mass.)
Markus Jackson, Yale (Sr., D, Augusta, Ga.)
Pumi Maqubela, Dartmouth (Jr., D, Andover, Mass.)
Joe Yonga, Cornell (Sr, D, Brooklyn Park, Minn.)
Alex Guzinski, Yale (Sr., D, Palo Alto, Calif.)
Ben Burton, Princeton (So., Minneapolis, Minn.)
Drew Healy, Penn (Sr., GK, Wilmington, Del.)
Honorable Mention (14)
F - Matt Bouraee, Cornell (Jr., Manasquan, N.J.); Aden Farina-Henry, Yale (So., Eugene, Ore.).
M - Pepe Carotenuto, Columbia (So., Scottsdale, Ariz.); Dan McKallagat, Cornell (Sr., Groton, Mass.); Kevin Unger, Penn (Fr., Menomonee Falls, Wisc.); Andy Hackbarth, Yale (Bend, Ore.).
D - Stephen Sawyer, Brown (Sr., Coppell, Texas); Bryan Giudicelli, Dartmouth (So., Emerald Hills, Calif.); Donnie Surdoval, Dartmouth (Jr., Sparta, N.J.); Luke Sager, Harvard (Sr., Farmington, Conn.); John Elicker (Sr., West Chester, Pa.); Jake Levin, Penn (Fr., Columbia, Md.); Ryan Porch, Penn (Sr., Marlton, N.J.).
GK- Jarrett Leech, Brown (Sr., Manakin-Sabot, Va.)
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Related Schools: No Associated School
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Related Sports: Soccer
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