The Atlantic Sun Conference announced its 2009 Men’s Soccer awards and All-Conference teams on Thursday with Stetson leading the way with four First-Team All-Conference awards.
Petrasso, a senior midfielder, earned the 2009 Atlantic Sun Player of the Year adding the honor to his extensive résumé. The Woodbridge, Ontario native picked up A-Sun Preseason All-Conference honors and ranked as the only unanimous selection. The computer information systems major led the Camels in points during the regular-season and ranks tied for fourth in the nation in overall assists (10) and assists per game (0.59). In his four year career, Petrasso has led the Camels to a regular-season conference record of 25-4-5. Petrasso adds his Player of the Year honor to an extensive list of accolades including 2007 A-Sun Championship MVP and 2008 league first-team honors. He ranks 24th on Campbell’s career scoring list with 53 point and earned A-Sun player of the week on Monday after helping the Camels win their second-straight league regular season title.
Hodge, a senior defender, captured Defensive Player of Year laurels becoming the first Hatter to earn the award. The native of Devon, England posted seven points on the season with two goals on six shots to hold a team-best .333 shot percentage. The sports management major live up to his 2009 Preseason All-Atlantic Sun selection leading Stetson to a conference best +0.53 goal margin and the nation’s 13th-best winning percentage.
Tarr earned Belmont’s first men’s soccer Freshman of the Year award after he posted eight goals during the regular-season and ranked second in conference. The Nashville, Tenn. native posted eight goals in his first season with the Bruins. Tarr’s 1.38 points per game leads the A-Sun entering the A-Sun Championship and ranks 28th nationally.
Campbell’s Doug Hess claimed the Coach of the Year Award for the second consecutive season becoming only the third coach to earn the honor in back-to-back season. Hess and the Camels have picked up only one regular season conference loss over the past two seasons and held the nation’s longest conference winning streak for a period during this season. With the award, Hess trails only Glen Evans in career conference coaches’ honors. The Centenary coach earned the honor four times in his career including three consecutive wins from 1988-1990.
Midfielder Fredrik Brustad, Forward Griffin Gilstrap and forward Kevin Munz join Hodge on the Atlantic Sun All-Conference First-Team from the Hatters. Gilstrap, Brustad and Munz each racked up 16 or more points during the season and each found the net six or more times. Gilstrap led the conference in goals score with nine.
Jacksonville placed two of its student-athletes on the first-team all-conference squad in defender Eddie Munnelly midfielder Stefan Runeman while the cross-town rival UNF landed Matthew Hollyoak on the First Team. Mercer’s Ian Cameron, ETSU Scott Rosman and Lipscomb’s Miguel DaSilva round out the Atlantic Sun First-Team.
Campbell, ETSU and FGCU packed the all-conference second-team earning three spots apiece on the conference squad. Justin Madrid, Mitchel Cardenas and Khalil Johnson earned second-team all-leagues honors from the 2009 A-Sun Regular Season Champion. Guilheme Reis, Sean Hoek and Aaron Schoenfeld picked up second-team honors for the Bucs, who qualified for the A-Sun Championship for the first time in program history, earning the No. 3 seed. The FGCU defense took center stage on the all-conference second-team with Mathew Smith, Matthew O’Shaughnessy and Cristian Radales earning conference laurels. USC Upstate’s Pat Regna, Lipscomb’s Kezi Lara, UNF’s Adam O’Neill and Tarr round out the Atlantic Sun Second-Team All-Conference award winners.
Campbell’s Mitchell Cardenas, Jacksonville’s Davide Faga, Stetson’s Jonathan Mendoza, ETSU’s Alesi Osorio, Mercer’s Brett Petricek, Jacksonville’s Filip Terland, Campbell’s Keegan Terry and Justin Smith, FGCU’s Westin Vallentine and Jeremy Vollmer and the Bucs Theo Yang join Freshman of the Year Brandon Tarr on the Freshman All-Conference squad.