Sophomores Keston George (Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago) and Emil Sjöberg (Stockholm, Sweden) of the Manhattanville men’s soccer team continue to rack up post season awards as both were named to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Div. III All-Mid-Atlantic Region team, the NSCAA announced on Wednesday.
“I’m very happy for their accomplishment,” said head coach Didier Orellana. “This award was well deserved; not only are they good students and model citizens, but good role models for the younger players on our team.”
George, who was named Freedom Conference Player of the Year this season after winning Rookie of the Year as a freshman, upgraded his hardware after leading the team in goals and points this year, scoring nine goals with seven assists for 25 points, including a team-best four game-winners. George ended the regular season fifth in the conference in points, tied for sixth in goals, tied for second in assists and tied for third in game-winning goals. He is the second Valiant men’s soccer player to be named a conference Player of the Year, joining Scott Vieira '06, who won in Orellana’s first season at the helm in 2005.
Sjöberg, meanwhile, was a major key for the Valiant defensive unit that led the Freedom Conference by allowing less than a goal per game. This is the second straight season that Sjöberg earned an All-Conference nod, as last season he was named to the second team as a freshman. In two seasons for the Valiants, Sjöberg has missed only one game.
In the process, the duo upped the number of Manhattanville men’s soccer players in program history to receive NSCAA All-Region honors to seven, joining Chris Myrtos ’06 (2006), Scott Vieira ’06 (2002, 2003, 2005), Justin Sweeney ’04 (2003), A.J. Kretschmer ’03 (2002, 2003), David Ferreira ’05 (2001) and Marlon Nurse ’89 (1986, 1989). This season marks just the third time in program history that the Valiants have more than one representative on an All-Region team.
Manhattanville was one of three schools from the Freedom Conference to receive All-Region honors, along with Misericordia University, who placed two players on the second team, and King’s (Pa.) College, who placed one player on the third team.
Manhattanville posted a 13-5-1 (6-0-1 Freedom) record in 2009. The Valiants took home their first Freedom Conference regular-season championship and ranked a program-high seventh in the NSCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional poll during the final week of the season. The Valiants also rode a program-record streak of success, having gone 10 matches (9-0-1) without a loss. The 13 wins ties the 2001 squad for the second-most victories in a single season in school history, behind only the 1999 edition that went 14-5-0.