The University of Akron Athletics
Ampaipitakwong, Sarkodie Earn Preseason All-American Honors
July 02 | Men's Soccer
Two rising stars on the University of Akron men's soccer team,
Anthony Ampaipitakwong and Kofi
Sarkodie were named to the 2009 Preseason All-America team by
College Soccer
News (CSN) Thursday.
Akron was just one of four schools to place multiple members on the
esteemed 33-player squad. Ampaipitakwong, an NSCAA All-American in
2008, was named to the second team while Sarkodie, a Soccer
America Freshman All-American last fall, garnered third-team
honors.
Also landing more than one player on the list were Wake Forest (3),
St. John's (2) and Creighton (2).
National acclaim has become common-place for Ampaipitakwong, who
was a much-hyped freshman in 2007 and a gem of UA head coach Caleb
Porter's first recruiting class. The junior midfielder is a
two-time, NSCAA all-region first team performer and
All-Mid-American Conference first team honoree. He was also a CSN
Freshman All-American following an '07 campaign that saw him lead
all first-year players in Division I with an average of 0.43
assists per game (32nd nationally overall).
The playmaker from Carrollton, Texas, followed that up by becoming
more of a finisher – doubling his goal total (4) in 2008. More
importantly, half of his goals were decisive ones as Ampaipitakwong
sunk Michigan in a 1-0 victory at Lee Jackson Field (Oct. 22) after
leading the Zips to a 2-0 win at Bowling Green (Oct. 11).
Ampaipitakwong, who was named to the NSCAA All-America third team
last December, also added five assists while helping orchestrate
the nation's 11th-ranked scoring offense (2.04 goals/game).
Sarkodie, another highly-touted recruit and U.S. national youth
team veteran, wasted little time making an impact on the college
scene in notching the game-winner in UA's 3-0 season-opening upset
of then-ranked No. 3 Notre Dame last August.
The athletic defender from Huber Heights, Ohio started all 23 games
as a first-year player was a key component in a defensive unit that
led the nation in goals-against-average (0.45), setting a new
school standard. Furthermore, the Zips defense was ranked fifth in
the country for shutout percentage (0.61) and 12th for save
percentage (.849).
In addition to his game-winning goal versus the Irish, Sarkodie
also recorded a pair of assists in 2008 while playing lock-down
defense. For his efforts, he was named to the NSCAA all-region
second team (the only freshman named to the 33-player all-region
squad), and was named to the All-Freshman team by Soccer
America and Top Drawer Soccer.
Ampaipitakwong and Sarkodie represent two of seven starters
returning for Akron, which was ranked No. 6 in CSN's preseason poll
last week. The Zips, which advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA
Championships for the fourth time in school history last fall,
finished with a 17-2-4 overall record and will open their 2009
campaign at the Tulsa Tournament versus SMU on Sept. 4.
2009 College Soccer
News Preseason All-America Teams
First Team
Andrew Wiedeman, California
Andre Akpan, Harvard
Samson Malijani, FDU
Nelson Becerra, St. John's
Corben Bone, Wake Forest
Michael Stephens, UCLA
Craig Henderson, Dartmouth
Chris Schuler, Creighton
Ike Opara, Wake Forest
Joel Gustafsson, St. Jonn's
Jovan Bubonja, UIC
Second Team
Cody Arnoux, Wake Forest
Conor Chin, San Francisco
Byron Dacy, Creighton
J.T. Noone, Temple
Anthony Ampaipitakwong,
Akron
Toni Stahl, Connecticut
Ben Arikian, Massachusetts
Tenant McVea, Loyola (Md.)
Barry Rice, Kentucky
Mark Blades, Northwestern
Zack Johnson, West Virginia
Third Team
Paulo da Silva, SMU
Casey Townsend, Maryland
Garrett Webb, Drake
Alex Torda, Dayton
Tony Tchani, Virginia
Ryan Kinne, Monmouth
Tim Ream, Saint Louis
Patrick Sigler, Cal Poly
Kofi Sarkodie,
Akron
Nick Cardenas, San Diego State
Jimmy Maurer, South Carolina
