The St. Thomas University Men's Soccer team, the regular season Sun Conference champions, were the biggest winners as well at The Sun Conference Men's Soccer Awards Banquet at the Fernandez Family Center.
The Bobcats collected four of the six major awards, had nine players named to All-Conference teams and 12 student-athletes named to the Academic All-Sun Conference team.
Federico Moronell was named The Sun Conference Player of the Year, The Sun Conference Offensive Player of the Year and First-Team All-Conference. The graduate student from Buenos Aires, Argentina, led The Sun Conference with 15 goals on the season and ranked fifth nationally in goals scored per game (1.15). He also led the conference in goals-per-game, points-per-game, and game-winning goals. Earlier this season, Moronell was also named the NAIA Player of the Week for the week ending September 4.
Senior Connor Christie, a senior from Gilwern, Wales, was named The Sun Conference Defensive Player of the Year and a First-Team All-Conference performer. Christie came on strong at the end of the season with four shutouts in STU's last five matches. He led the conference in goals-against average (1.17), while recording 17 saves in nine matches. Christie also was a two-time Sun Conference Defensive Player of the Week recipient earlier this season.
In addition to Moronell and Christie, defenders Harry Molyneaux and Santeri Bergman along with midfielder Tomas Greco, were named First-Team All-Conference bringing STU's total to five players on the First-Team.
Molyneaux and Bergman led a defense that held conference opponents to just three goals in 10 league matches. Greco controlled the midfield all season for the Bobcats and totaled 16 points with five goals and six assists on the season. Earlier this season, Bergman also won Sun Conference Player of the Week awards on two different occasions.
Forward Konstantinos Mylonas and midfielder Jon Quintana were each named Second-Team All-Conference. Mylonas ranked second on the team this season in goals (10) and points (24). Quintana scored three goals on the season and was a consistent force in the midfield for the Bobcats.
Midfielder Fabian Heinrich and forward Pablo Gil were each named Honorable Mention All-Conference. Heinrich, a graduate student and team captain, provided leadership and important minutes in the midfield all year. Gil scored seven goals and recorded five assists on the season. Gil was also won a Sun Conference Player of the Week earlier this season.
Head coach Felix Mats was named Sun Conference Coach of the Year. Mats wins the award after leading the Bobcats to a 12-1-1 overall record, including a perfect 9-0 record in regular-season Sun Conference play en route to The Sun Conference regular-season championship.
Twelve Bobcats were named to the Academic All-Sun Conference team for their excellence in the classroom including Bergman, Christie, Gil, Greco, Heinrich, Molyneaux, Robert Barton, Christian Giraldo, Roni Luokkamaki, Artur Sharapov, Dobbe Weverink and Jiayi Wang.