Men's Soccer Continues Sweep of MAC Specialty Awards

November 10 | Men's Soccer

AKRON, Ohio – For the fifth straight season, The No. 7 University of Akron men's soccer team swept the Mid-American Conference specialty awards as Darren Mattocks was named Player of the Year, Wil Trapp was named Newcomer of the Year and Caleb Porter was named Coach of the Year, the league office announced Thursday.

Mattocks, who is third in the country with 18 goals in 18 matches, is the ninth Akron player to earn the league's highest individual honor since 1993 and follows Darlington Nagbe (2010), Teal Bunbury (2009), Steve Zakuani (2008), Corey Sipos (2007), Sinisa Ubiparipovic (2006) and Ross McKenzie (2005) as the seventh consecutive Zips player to receive the award.

Mattocks, a sophomore from Portmore, Jamaica, has already matched his goal total from last season when he was the second-highest scoring freshman in the country. He is also currently ranked fourth in the country with a total of 39 points (18 G, 3 A).

Trapp, who was the No. 1-ranked freshman in the nation according to Top Drawer Soccer last month, becomes the 10th UA player to earn newcomer honors and the sixth in the last seven seasons, following Mattocks (2010), Zarek Valentin (2009), Nagbe (2008), Zakuani (2007) and Evan Bush (2005). Trapp has started every game this season for the Zips and has five assists on the year.

It is the fifth consecutive season Porter, who has the highest career winning percentage among all active Division I coaches, was been named MAC Coach of the Year. Porter became the fastest in program history to reach 100 career wins and enters this weekend's conference tournament with an overall record of 103-16-13 (.830) and a mark of 32-1-1 (.956) in MAC play.

The sixth-year coach has guided UA to at least a share of the league's regular-season championship in each season and the last four MAC Tournament titles.

Also announced by the league Thursday, 10 Akron players received All-MAC honors, including seven first-team selections.

Joining Mattocks and Trapp on the First Team were Scott Caldwell, Aodhan Quinn, Luke Holmes, Chad Barson and DeAndre Yedlin. Bryan Gallego, David Meves and Thomas Schmitt each received Second Team honors.

As the No. 1 seed for the MAC Tournament, UA will kick off against fourth-seeded Western Michigan in the first semifinal game Friday at 5 p.m. at FirstEnergy Stadium – Cub Cadet Field. No. 2 Northern Illinois will meet No. 3 Buffalo in the second contest starting at 8 p.m.

The winners will advance to the MAC Tournament championship game, which will be held Sunday at 4 p.m.

2011 All-MAC Postseason Awards

All‐MAC First‐Team
Scott Caldwell, Akron, MF
Wil Trapp, Akron, MF
Aodhan Quinn, Akron, MF
Greg Mathers, Hartwick, MF
Luke Holmes, Akron, F
Darren Mattocks, Akron, F
James Stevenson, Northern Illinois, F
Chad Barson, Akron, D
DeAndre Yedlin, Akron, D
Francis Otira, Northern Illinois, D
Jordan Godsey, Northern Illinois, GK

All‐MAC Second‐Team
Andy Tiedt, Buffalo, MF
Simon Greatwich, Hartwick, MF
Karim Darbaki, Northern Illinois, MF
Isaac Kannah, Northern Illinois, MF
Thomas Schmitt, Akron, F
Rodcliff Hall, Bowling Green, F
Kai Mendes, Western Michigan, F
Bryan Gallego, Akron, D
Jherrett Maroney, Hartwick, D
Darren Jones, Western Michigan, D
David Meves, Akron, GK

MAC Player of the Year
Darren Mattocks, Akron

MAC Newcomer of the Year
Wil Trapp, Akron

"Gary V. Palmisano" MAC Coach of the Year
Caleb Porter, Akron