UTICA, NY – Eighth-year SUNYIT men's head soccer coach Peterson Jerome was selected by his peers as the NEAC Coach of the Year, while freshman Diego Montaleza (New York, NY/MLK) was named the NEAC Player of the Year, fellow classmate Malick Faye (Bronx, NY/MLK) was named Goalkeeper of the Year and seven Wildcats in total were named to the All-Conference Team.
Jerome led the team to its first-ever NEAC regular season championship with an 8-1 conference record while guiding the squad to a 12-5 overall record, which is the second most wins in program history. It also marks Jerome's third straight season with at least 10 wins.
Montaleza had a sensational season, registering 15 points on four goals and seven assists in eight NEAC contests and finished the regular season with a team-best 18 points on five goals and a program single-season record eight assists in 16 games. The 5-foot-9 forward also earned two NEAC Student-Athlete of the Week awards.
Faye posted 28 saves, three shutouts and a goals against average of 0.63 while starting in all nine conference games for SUNYIT. The 6-foot-1 goalkeeper registered program single-season records of six shutouts and a 0.81 goals against average in addition to 43 saves and a 11-5 record in 16 starts.
Montaleza and Faye were two of six Wildcats selected to the All-Conference First Team, being joined by teammates Daniel Twumasi (Brooklyn, NY/James Madison), Dennis Owusu-Ansah (Bronx, NY/Harry S. Truman), Jason Conklin (Cooperstown, NY/Cooperstown) and Akinlabi George (Brooklyn, NY/Bryant & Stratton). Twumasi scored a team-high nine goals, including four game winners, while becoming the program's all-time leader in career goals. The 5-foot-11 senior forward also won one NEAC Student-Athlete of the Week award and one Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III Upstate/Metro Offensive Player of the Week award, earning both honors this past week.
Owusu-Ansah, a team captain, registered two goals and three assists in 17 games this season. The 5-foot-9 senior is currently tied for first in program history in career assists and fifth all-time in career points. Seniors Conklin and George teamed with Owusu-Ansah in the backfield to help the team break the program records for shutouts and goals against average in a season while only allowing 17 goals in 17 contests on the year.
Rounding out the All-Conference selections for the Wildcats was sophomore forward Chris Staulters (Broadalbin, NY/Galway), who was selected to the All-Conference Second Team after scoring seven goals on the year, including four game winners. He also played an integral role in the team setting a program record for goals per game average with 1.98.
The Wildcats will host the NEAC Championship Tournament at the Wildcat Soccer Field this Saturday and Sunday. They will open competition as the top seed of the tournament and will square off against No. 4 seed Keuka College at 10:45 am Saturday, while No. 2 Penn State Harrisburg will take on No. 3 Penn State Abington at 3:15 pm in the day's other semifinal round match. The championship game will then be played at 2:00 pm Sunday.