Jason Wright Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year
Nov 06 | Men's Soccer
PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- Sophomore forward Jason Wright (Kingston, Jamaica) was a unanimous selection as Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, head coach Dan Donigan was voted Big Ten Coach of the Year and a total of six Scarlet Knights earned postseason honors from the league it was announced on Friday on the eve of the Big Ten Men's Soccer Tournament.
Wright was also a unanimous First Team All-Big Ten selection, while three other Scarlet Knights were named Second Team All-Big Ten -- senior midfielder Mitchell Taintor (Storrs, Conn.), senior defender Mitch Lurie (Atlanta, Ga.) and junior goalkeeper David Greczek (Fairfield, N.J.). Rookie midfielder Brian Hawkins (Chesterfield, N.J.) was selected to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team, while senior defender Drew Morgan (Atlanta, Ga.) was Rutgers' Big Ten Sportsmanship Award winner.
"It's always great to get recognized by the coaches in your conference," said Donigan of his team's postseason awards. "If you look at our All-Big Ten members, it's our forward, our center midfielder, our center back and goalkeeper, which any coach will tell you is the heart and soul of any team. These honors speak volumes about how far this team has come and what this team has accomplished this year."
"Everyone associated with our program needs to share in the recognition, from our administration to support staff, our strenght and conditioning coaches, our athletic trainer, and especially my assistant coaches Dave Beck, Bryant Knibbs and Mike Romeo," added Donigan. "These awards are due to all the players in our program who work hard day-in and day-out."
A four-time Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honoree, Wright is among the nation's top 10 in five statistical categories, including fourth in goals scored (13). He leads the conference with 29 points, 13 goals and five game-winning goals, including 10 points and three game-winning goals in Big Ten games.
Donigan earns Big Ten Coach of the Year after leading the Scarlet Knights to an 11-5-1 overall record, Rutgers' most wins since the 2003 season. The Scarlet Knights, who a year ago finished in eighth place and were picked eighth in the Big Ten Preseason Poll, were battling for the Big Ten regular season title up until the final game of the regular season. Donigan earns his fourth conference Coach of the Year honor having been named Atlantic-10 Coach of the Year in 2006 and 2007 and Conference-USA Coach of the Year in 2001 prior to arriving "On The Banks".
Taintor captured 10 points (3 goals, 4 assists) for the Scarlet Knights in 2015. Among the goals the co-captain captured this season were the game-winner against Nebraska-Omaha in the regular season home finale and a penalty kick 10 minutes into RU's season opening victory over Siena. He also collected three points (1G, 1A) in RU's 8-0 win over Loyola (MD), as one of seven Scarlet Knights to find the back of the Greyhound net. Second on the team in assists, he notched the helper on the game-winning goal in Rutgers' 4-2 victory over Northwestern.
Lurie helped bolster the Rutgers defense in his first season "On The Banks", leading the team seven shutouts, including contests with nationally-ranked Michigan and Ohio State. He also recorded five assists in contests at Northwestern, Maryland, Syracuse and Penn, as well as against Loyola. The RU co-captain was also named to the Central New York Classic All-Tournament Team early in the season.
Greczek has played every minute of all 17 games to post a 1.09 goals against average and.765 save percentage along with seven shutouts. His seven clean sheets are the most by a Scarlet Knight netminder since the 2000 season. Among his shutouts were victories at Michigan, then ranked at No. 25 by the NSCAA, and Ohio State, who entered the game ranked at No. 18 by the NSCAA. He currently ranks fourth all-time at Rutgers with 251 career stops.
Hawkins was a unanimous selection to the Big Ten's All-Freshman Team. The rookie midfielder recorded seven points (2G, 3A) in his first season at Rutgers and started in 12 of the Scarlet Knights' 17 games.
Morgan was one of the nine Big Ten Sportsmanship honorees. The Big Ten Sportsmanship award winners are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. These students-athletes must also be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. A member of the Big Ten All-Academic Team, Morgan is a key component behind Rutgers' seven shutouts on the year.
The Rutgers men's soccer team begins Big Ten Tournament action on Sunday, Nov. 8 in the quarterfinals. The fourth-seeded Scarlet Knights host fifth-seeded Northwestern at 1 p.m. at Yurcak Field. The game will be streamed on BTN Plus.
2015 MEN'S SOCCER ALL-BIG TEN TEAMS AND INDIVIDUAL HONORS
* - Unanimous selection
Coach of the Year: Dan Donigan, Rutgers
Offensive Player of the Year: Jason Wright, Rutgers *
Midfielder of the Year: Tanner Thompson, Indiana
Defensive Player of the Year: Liam Doyle, Ohio State
Goalkeeper of the Year: Chris Froschauer, Ohio State
Freshman of the Year: FRANCIS ATUAHENE, Michigan
All-Big Ten Teams
First Team
Forward:
Femi Hollinger-Janzen, Indiana
Connor Maloney, Penn State
Jason Wright, Rutgers *
Midfield:
Tanner Thompson, Indiana *
Mael Corboz, Maryland
Francis Atuahene, Michigan
Kyle Culbertson, Ohio State
Defense:
Grant Lillard, Indiana
Zach Carroll, Michigan State
Liam Doyle, Ohio State *
Goalkeeper:
Chris Froschauer, Ohio State
Second Team
Forward:
Sebastian Elney, Maryland
Joey Calistri, Northwestern
Danny Jensen, Ohio State
Midfield:
Tsubasa Endoh, Maryland
Cole Missimo, Northwestern
Mitchell Taintor, Rutgers
Defense:
Andrew Gutman, Indiana
Alex Crognale, Maryland
Chris Odoi-Atsem, Maryland
Mitch Lurie, Rutgers
Goalkeeper:
David Greczek, Rutgers
All-Freshman Team:
Andrew Gutman, Indiana, D *
Francesco Moore, Indiana, D/MF
Sebastian Elney, Maryland, F *
Eryk Williamson, Maryland, F/MF
Francis Atuahene, Michigan, MF *
Rryan Sierakowski, Michigan State, F *
Camden Buescher, Northwestern, MF
Abdi Mohamed, Ohio State, MF
Austin Maloney, Penn State, MF
Brian Hawkins, Rutgers, F *
Sam Brotherton, Wisconsin, D
Sportsmanship Award Honorees:
Femi Hollinger-Janzen, Sr., Indiana
Cody Niedermeier, Jr., Maryland
Colin McAtee, Sr., Michigan
Jason Stacy, Sr., Michigan State
Henry Herrill, Sr., Northwestern
Christian Soldat, Jr., Ohio State
Michael Gonzalez, Sr., Penn State
Drew Morgan, Sr., Rutgers
Adam Lauko, Sr., Wisconsin
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