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University of Massachusets Athletics
Trio Of Minutemen Earn Soccer America Honors
December 27, 2007 | Men's Soccer
Dec. 27, 2007
AMHERST, Mass. - The UMass men's soccer team continues to earn postseason accolades as redshirt junior goalkeeper Zack Simmons and freshmen midfielders Stuart Amick and Ben Arikian have been honored by Soccer America. Simmons was named to the Soccer America MVP First-Team, while Amick and Arikian were each named to the Soccer America All-Freshman Second-Team. The trio were integral parts in UMass' historic run in the NCAA Tournament to the national semifinals and a school record 17 wins.
This is the latest honor for Simmons who was also named to the NCAA College Cup All-Tournament Team and the NSCAA/adidas All-America Third-Team. He is currently a finalist for the Umbro/Soccer News Net Player of the Year. Additionally, Simmons was named the Atlantic 10 Tournament MVP and earned spots on the A-10 All-Tournament Team, the A-10 All-Conference First-Team, was named the A-10 Men's Soccer Student-Athlete of the Year, was tabbed the UMass Fall Male Scholar-Athlete, and earned ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Second-Team honors.
Being named to the College Cup All-Tournament Team made him the first player in school history to earn such honors, while the All-America honor was the first for a UMass soccer player since Jeff Deren in 2002. Simmons became the first UMass goalkeeper since Edward McGrath in 1948 to be recognized as an All-American. He is the 15th player in the program's 75-year history to earn All-America honors.
Amick and Arikian had outstanding rookie seasons for the Minutemen in the midfield. The duo were also named to the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team.
Amick drew 19 starts in 25 games played and finished the year with five goals and two assists for 12 points. Two of those goals were game-winners. He had two goals and one assist in UMass' five NCAA Tournament games. The Minutemen were 14-4-1 with Amick starting in the midfield.
Arikian started 25 of 26 games played finishing with two goals and a team-high tying six assists for 10 points. He had a career-high four points on a goal and two assists in the regular-season win at Saint Joseph's in the final week of the season which sealed UMass' berth into the Atlantic 10 Tournament setting the stage for the NCAA run.
The Minutemen finished the season at 17-8-1 which was a school record for wins. The berth to the NCAA College Cup was a first for the UMass soccer program which celebrated its 75th anniversary of intercollegiate competition this year. It was just the second NCAA Tournament appearance all-time. To get to the NCAA Tournament, UMass won the Atlantic 10 Tournament for the league's automatic berth after being picked 10th in the 14-team conference preseason poll.
SOCCER AMERICA MEN'S MVPs
First Team
Zack Simmons (Massachusetts) JR.
Andre Akpan (Harvard) SOPH.
Xavier Balc (Ohio State) SR.
Alejandro Bedoya (Boston College) JR.
Sam Cronin (Wake Forest) JR.
Julius James (Connecticut) SR.
Joseph Lapira (Notre Dame) SR.
Peter Lowry (Santa Clara) SR.
Patrick Nyarko (Virginia Tech) JR.
Pat Phelan (Wake Forest) SR.
O'Brian White (Connecticut) JR.
Second Team
Jovan Bubonja (UIC) SOPH.
Reuben Ayarna (Boston College) JR.
Eric Brunner (Connecticut) SR.
Bruno Guarda (SMU) JR.
Andy Iro (UC Santa Barbara) SR.
Stephen King (Maryland) SR.
Andrew Jacobson (California) SR.
Jon Leathers (Furman) SR.
Brad Ring (Indiana) JR.
David Roth (Northwestern) SR.
Andy Wright (West Virginia) SR.
SOCCER AMERICA ALL-FRESHMEN TEAMS
First Team
Austin Guerrero (Portland)
Jalil Anibaba (Santa Clara)
Piero Bellizzi (Northwestern)
Corben Bone (Wake Forest)
Brayan Martinez (Seton Hall)
Ike Opara (Wake Forest)
Rodney Wallace (Maryland)
Bobby Warshaw (Stanford)
Andrew Wiedeman (California)
Steve Zakuani (Akron)
David Zamora (Cal Poly)
Second Team
Josh Ford (Connecticut)
Stuart Amick (Massachusetts)
Ben Arikian (Massachusetts)
Matt Armstrong (Notre Dame)
Phil Bannister (Loyola, Md.)
Danny Kelly (Indiana)
Haris Cekic (Furman)
Christian Ibeagha (Duke)
Karl Reddick (Boston College)
James Shupp (Virginia Tech)
Spencer Thompson (Michigan State)