ROCK HILL, S.C. - On the eve of the 2012 South Atlantic Conference Men's Soccer Tournament, a trio of Anderson players have been named to the All-Conference Team, as announced by the league office Wednesday.
Senior Shu Ogawa garnered First-Team All-SAC accolades for the second consecutive year after starting every match this season. The defensive midfielder tied for third on the team in assists, while recording six shots on the season, including two shots on goal.
Senior goalkeeper Lukas Hesse and sophomore Lars Zimmerman were
named Second-Team All-SAC, with Hesse earning a start between the
pipes in all 17 matches and has 50 career starts. He recorded four
shutouts during the regular season and has 15 clean sheets during
his career. The native of Berlin, Germany, ranks fourth in the
conference with 62 saves on the season.
Zimmerman leads the Trojan and is sixth in the SAC with his seven
goals and ranks eighth in the league with 14 points on the season.
He recorded a team-high 39 shots during the regular season,
including 18 shots on goal, which ranks ninth in the
conference.
The fifth-seeded Trojans square off against No. 4 seed Wingate in the quarterfinal round of the 2012 Food Lion SAC Tournament.
"We are very pleased that the three were recognized by the
league's coaches," said Anderson head coach John Murphy. "The
honors were well-deserved. We depended on those three guys all year
long and they have been outstanding and very consistent. No one
plays sports for individual honors - we play for team recognition,
but the awards are nice."
Lincoln Memorial forward Mario Pinto headlined the list of
individual honorees as the conference's Player of the Year.
Pinto finished at or near the top of the SAC leaderboard in
numerous offensive categories, ranking first in goals with 20,
first in points with 44, first in game-winning goals with six,
second in shots with 77 and eighth in assists with four. He had a
SAC-best four hat tricks in the regular season, including in
back-to-back matches against Tusculum and Brevard in
mid-October.
The junior was among Division II's most prolific offensive players
during the regular season, ranking second in the nation in both
goals and points.
Pinto was also one of four forwards named to the All-SAC First Team
for the second season in a row, joining Wingate's Gui Lima and Mars
Hill's Felipe Ferraro and Shadi Harb.
Lima finished the regular season with four goals, five assists and
two game-winners for Wingate, while Harb was tied for third in the
SAC with eight goals and Ferraro tied for second in assists with
seven for regular-season champion MHC.
Mars Hill had two other players earn All-SAC First Team honors in
midfielder Alex Mullen and defender Gregg Munn. Mullen finished
the regular season tied with Ferraro with seven assists, while Munn
anchored a defense that allowed a conference-low 0.79 goals per
match.
In total, MHC led the SAC with six All-Conference selections, as
two more Lions earned spots on the Second Team.
In addition to Lima, Wingate was also represented on the All-SAC
First Team by midfielder Gui Andrade and defender Corey McCollom.
Andrade tallied two goals and three assists during the regular
season for the Bulldogs.
Carson-Newman had two players earn first-team All-SAC accolades in
defender Trystan Dafydd and keeper Rumwald Le Gueval. The duo
helped C-N's defense finish third in the conference in goals
against average, allowing just 1.08 goals per contest. Le Gueval
also ranked second in the league with four shutouts.
Catawba's Carson Smith - the SAC's assists leader during the
regular season with nine - was picked as a first-team midfielder,
as was Ogawa. Lenoir-Rhyne defender Tom Holland rounded out the
first-team selections.
Headlining the All-SAC Second Team was L-R forward Tobias Tobrant,
who also earned the conference's Freshman of the Year award.
Tobrant finished his first season with eight goals, which tied for
the third-highest total in the league.
LMU and Carson-Newman had the most second-team selections with
three apiece.
After leading his team to the SAC regular-season title and a spot
in the national rankings for the majority of the season, first-year
Mars Hill coach Gary Hamel was selected as the SAC Coach of the
Year.
