Nov. 10, 2005
The Big Ten office announced the 2005 All-Big Ten and All-Freshman men's soccer teams, as well as individual award winners today. Indiana's Brian Plotkin was selected as Player of the Year, while freshman Lee Nguyen also nabbed an individual honor as he was dubbed Freshman Player of the Year. Nittany Lion head coach Barry Gorman garnered Coach of the Year accolades.
Plotkin, the 2005 Player of the Year, is only the second Indiana player to claim two career individual men's soccer awards, as he was named Freshman of the Year in 2002. The senior has been a guiding force on offense for the Hoosiers and led the league with 25 points, scoring eight goals, assisting on nine and tallying four game-winners for the season. Plotkin, a three-time Offensive Player of the Week selection this year, also helped Indiana beat Akron, the nation's top-ranked team after he scored the game-winning goal in the 1-0 victory on Nov. 3.
Nguyen is the seventh Hoosier to claim Freshman of the Year laurels, the first since Jed Zayner shared the honor with Northwestern's Gerardo Alvarez in 2003. This is the first time since 1997 that an Indiana player has won the honor outright. Nguyen was second on the team in points (21) with five goals and 11 assists in 18 games played this season.
Penn State's Gorman guided the Nittany Lions to a 10-6-2 overall record and a 6-0 conference mark. Since being named head coach in 1988, the team has recorded at least 10 wins in 15 of his 16 seasons. Penn State claimed its first Big Ten regular season title in program history with a 1-0 overtime victory against Michigan State on Oct. 23. This is Gorman's first Coach of the Year award.
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 Jed Zayner, Michigan's Trai Blanks, Michigan State's John Kaczmarek, Northwestern's Jaro Pylypczak, Ohio State's Antonio Garcia, Penn State's David Gray and Wisconsin's Aaron Hohlbein. These five student-athletes are now candidates for the Big Ten 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.
2005 Men's Soccer All-Big Ten Teams
Position First Team Second Team
Forward Lee Nguyen, IND Kevin Nugent, OSU
Jacob Peterson, IND Victor Diaz, WIS
Brad North, NU Jason Yeisley, PSU
Simon Omekanda, PSU
Midfield BRIAN PLOTKIN, IND Josh Tudela, IND
Ryan McMahen, MSU *Dave Roth, NU
David Walters, PSU Brent Rohrer, OSU
Brian Devlin, PSU
Defense Brad Napper, NU Jed Zayner, IND
Kyle Veris, OSU Steve Doster, MSU
Aaron Hohlbein, WIS *Dustin Kirby, OSU
Markuu Viitanen, PSU
Goalkeeper Conrad Taylor, PSU Pete Dzubay, MICH
2005 Men's Soccer All-Freshman Team
Forward LEE NGUYEN, IND
JASON YEISLEY, PSU
VICTOR DIAZ, WIS
Midfield Brad Ring, IND
DANNY IRIZARRY, OSU
Christoph Ascheri, PSU
Kenny Dix, WIS
Defense CHASE TENNANT, MICH
MIKE HOLODY, MICH
Andy Miller, WIS
Goalkeeper WILL BRILEY, NU
Sportsmanship Award Honorees
Jed Zayner, IND
Trai Blanks, MICH
John Kaczmarek, MSU
Jaro Pylypczak, NU
Antonio Garcia, OSU
David Gray, PSU
Aaron Hohlbein, WIS
Player of the Year: Brian Plotkin, IND
Coach of the Year: BARRY GORMAN, PSU
Freshman of the Year: Lee Nguyen, IND
UNANIMOUS SELECTIONS IN ALL CAPS
* Tie
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