STANDISH, Maine – The Saint Joseph's College men's soccer team held its annual team awards banquet at Pearson's Café on Friday, February 12th. A total of eight awards were bestowed upon nine individuals and second-year Head Coach Adrian Dubois also honored the 2015 team's nine Dean's List recipients and three All-Conference honorees.
Over 80 people were in attendance for the event, which was kicked off by a season highlight video created by junior Daniel Malone (Laconia, N.H.) and featured speeches by each of the team's coaches, a dinner, and gifts – new Nike men's soccer jackets – for the seniors.
The theme of the banquet was not to have ordinary players, not to be ordinary students, not play ordinary football, but to plan on being extraordinary as a player, student, and person.
The nine Dean's List honorees include seniors Nate Fox (South Portland, Maine) and Scott Benner (Post Falls, Idaho), sophomores Austin Bell (Gorham, Maine), Daniel Fox (South Portland, Maine), and Justin Karageorge (North Smithfield, R.I.), and freshmen Alex Judge (Concord, N.H.), Kartikeya Swarup (Delhi, India), Coleman Reifke (Loudon, N.H.), and Zack Moody (Steep Falls, Maine).
Coach Dubois is a tireless recruiter and relies heavily on his players to help bring top talent to the Shores of Sebago. With this in mind, coach implemented a 'Best Team Recruiter Award' and this year's honor goes to sophomore Daniel Fox (South Portland, Maine), who has been involved in many visits this year.
The 2015 Most Developed Award goes to junior defender Nicholas Borowski (Webster, Mass.), who scored a pair of goals in conference play and was a major contributor last fall after missing a significant portion of the 2014 campaign due to injuries.
Freshmen Dalton Gaumer (Riverside, Calif.) and Rory Twomey (South Windsor, Conn.) share the 2015 Unsung Hero Award. Gaumer, an athletic and technically sound player, tallied a goal and two assists on the year while Twomey, a midfielder, was an important player in transition for the Monks as a freshman and netted a goal on 23 total shots last fall.
The 2016 Golden Glove Award goes to senior keeper Scott Benner (Post Falls, Idaho). The two-year team captain started 11 games last fall and posted a 1.48 goals against average with a .738 save percentage in 971 minutes between the pipes.
Senior Ralph Houanche (Port-au-Prince, Haiti) was selected as the 2015 Defensive Player of the Year after tallying a goal with five assists during his final collegiate season. A very athletic player with excellent touch on the ball, Houanche was a steadying force on the pitch for the Monks and will be missed next season.
Sophomore Austin Bell (Gorham, Maine) has earned the 2015 Silver Boot Award, an honor bestowed annually upon the Monks' assists leader. Bell tallied nine assists and ranked second on the side with 15 total points last fall.
The 2015 Golden Boot Award, given annually to the team's leading goal scorer, goes to freshman forward Brett Mattos (Mahopac, N.Y.), who netted 13 goals and 28 total points in his first collegiate campaign. Mattos garnered GNAC Player and Rookie of the Week honors on October 18th and seems poised to be a force in the conference for the next three years.
The coveted Balloon d'Ore Award, given to the team's Most Valuable Player – both on and off the field – went to junior defender Sean Baker (Medfield, Mass.), who scored five goals en route to claiming Second Team All-Conference honors last fall.
Under the watch of second-year Head Coach Adrian Dubois, Saint Joseph's registered one of the best turnaround seasons in program history last fall. In 2014, the Monks went 5-15-0 overall, including a 3-6-0 mark in GNAC play. In 2015, with the help of an impressive recruiting class, St. Joe's went 11-7-1 (6-3-0 GNAC) en route to securing the #3 seed in the conference tournament and hosted sixth-seeded Albertus Magnus College in a GNAC quarterfinal on November 1st.
The 2015 men's soccer side set new team records for goals (48), assists (35), and points (131) and suffered just two shutouts all season, the fewest goose-egg efforts against in program history (the 1997 team was also shut out twice).
#GOMONKS
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Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 474-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.
