Seven Buckeyes; Coaching Staff Receive Big Ten Awards – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/13/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Doug Verhoff, Matt Lampson and head coach John Bluem headlined the list of Ohio State men’s soccer team members to receive awards at the Big Ten Tournament banquet Thursday night. The conference office announced the 2009 All-Big Ten and All-Freshman men’s soccer teams, as well as individual award winners. For the first time, the annual Player of the Year award was divided into two separate accolades to highlight exceptional offensive and defensive performances.
Penn State’s Jason Yeisley was selected as Offensive Player of the Year, while Northwestern’s Mark Blades and Ohio State’s Doug Verhoff were tabbed Co-Defensive Players of the Year. Newcomers Matt Lampson of Ohio State and Kevin Cope of Michigan State were dubbed Co-Freshmen of the Year and Buckeye head mentor John Bluem was lauded as Coach of the Year by his peers.
In addition to the individual award winners, Ohio State led the way in All-Big Ten selections, placing eight total players on all-conference squads. Verhoff and junior captain Matt Gold were first-team choices, while Lampson, senior Andrew Magill and junior Konrad Warzycha each earned second-team honors. Lampson, a Hilliard, Ohio, native is the first Buckeye rookie to earn a place on one of the two All-Big Ten teams in his freshman season. He currently leads the conference in goals-against average and shutouts, heading into the tournament semifinal.
Austin McAnena and Chris Hegngi, the Buckeyes’ leading scorers, joined Lampson on the All-Freshman Team. The eight total OSU honorees were more than any other school, leading host Indiana by one.
“It takes a team to play well and receive these awards,” Bluem said. “All the guys that didn’t get awards should feel like they did get rewarded. We all got awards. That in particular is true of the coach of the year award. I feel like that is emblematic of the team’s success and the whole staff of the team … That is the sign of a successful season when you get a team of the award.”
A look at the individual award winners:
A two-time first-team All-Big Ten selection, Yeisley becomes Penn State’s fifth all-time Big Ten Player of the Year and the first since 1995 (Stuart Reid). With the new postseason-award format now in place, the senior forward is also the conference’s first-ever Offensive Player of the Year. A 2009 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award finalist, Yeisley capped a stellar career in Happy Valley with 21 points and eight goals, including three game-winning strikes while also leading the Big Ten in shots with 72 on the year.
The senior tandem of Northwestern’s Blades and Ohio State’s Verhoff claimed a share of the conference’s first Defensive Player of the Year award after leading their teams to the top tier of the Big Ten standings. The veteran duo becomes the conference’s second all-time joint selection for Player of the Year in Big Ten history and the first in 16 seasons. For their efforts, Blades and Verhoff were tabbed unanimous first-team All-Big Ten selections.
For the first time since 2003, the conference coaches deemed a pair of standout newcomers Freshmen of the Year, marking only the third co-selection since the award’s inception in 1991. Michigan State’s Cope becomes the second MSU freshman to earn the honor (Jason Wolff, 1994) after powering a tenacious Spartan defense that allowed only 14 goals in 18 contests – good enough to rate second in the conference statistics.
Topping the charts in that category is Ohio State, led by freshman goalkeeper Lampson. The Hilliard, Ohio, native came up strong between the pipes for the Buckeyes this season, conceding only 10 goals against 62 saves. His Big Ten-leading .861 save percentage is accompanied by eight shutouts on the year while facing the 11th-toughest schedule in the nation. He becomes only the fourth OSU freshman to take home the award and the first since 2000 (Justin Cook).
In his 13th season at the helm of the Buckeye program, Bluem picks up his third Big Ten Coach of the Year honor, moving him into a tie for second place for most yearly awards in conference annals. Aside from earning its first-ever top seed in this year’s Big Ten Tournament, Ohio State finished the regular season 4-2-0 in conference play and 10-4-4 overall as Bluem posted his 11th season of 10 or more wins since his arrival in Columbus in 1997. Under Bluem’s direction, the Buckeyes captured their first outright Big Ten Championship in program history.
The conference office also announced honorees from each team for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award. The student-athletes chosen are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. In addition, the student-athletes must be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. Honorees for men’s soccer are Indiana’s Ofori Sarkodie, Michigan’s Daniel Gray, Michigan State’s Tim Granaderos, Northwestern’s Pat Coleman, Ohio State’s Verhoff,Penn State’s Yeisley and Wisconsin’s Jon Rzepka. These seven student-athletes are now candidates for the Big Ten Outstanding Sportsmanship Award, as the conference office will honor one male and one female student-athlete from each institution at the end of the school year.
