Nov. 11, 2008

2008 Men’s Soccer All-Conference USA Awards

IRVING, Texas – Conference USA announced its 2008 all-conference first, second and third teams and postseason award winners for men’s soccer today, as selected by the conference’s nine head coaches. The awards are announced one day before the start of the 14th Annual C-USA Championship, which is scheduled for Wednesday through Sunday, Nov. 12-16, at Westcott Field on the campus of SMU.

The Tulsa Golden Hurricane (13-3-2, 7-0-1) earned its second consecutive Conference USA regular season title and will be the No. 1 seed. TU was just the third team in league history to claim the regular season title with no league losses. Sophomore ASHLEY MCINNES tallied 11 points on three goals and five assists for TU and was named the C-USA Offensive Player of the Year. McInnes earned a spot on the All-Conference USA second team and was joined by teammates JOE SALEM, CHRIS TAYLOR, TYREL LACEY, AUSTIN NEIL, CHRIS CLEMENTS and JOSE PARADA as all-conference members, respectively. Neil also picked up C-USA Freshman of the Year honors after leading his team with 22 points on a team-high nine goals with five game-winners and four assists.

Tulsa head coach TOM MCINTOSH was named the C-USA Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season after leading the Golden Hurricane to back-to-back league regular season titles. His team is currently riding a 12-game unbeaten streak and is ranked No. 7 in the latest NSCAA poll. McIntosh is the first coach in C-USA Men’s Soccer history to earn back-to-back Coach of the Year accolades.

Kentucky’s BARRY RICE repeated as the league’s Defensive Player of the Year, also a league first. Rice was a preseason All-American and also a member of the Hermann Trophy Watch List. The junior started all 18 games and played in every second of UK’s conference contests. He has notched one goal and one assist and ranks third on his team with 26 shots, while winning 152-of-171 contested-header attempts in 17 of UK’s 18 games in 2008.

Another Wildcat, junior MARCO DOS SANTOS, was named the C-USA Newcomer of the Year. Dos Santos ranks third on his team with 12 points on four goals and four assists. He has played in 17 of UK’s 18 games – missing one due to injury – totaling 24 shots, with eight on goal.

Besides Tulsa’s three selections to the All-Conference USA first team, both South Carolina and Kentucky had two first-team selections. The Wildcats were represented by Rice and JASON GRIFFITHS, while SAM ARTHUR and BLAKE BRETTSCHNEIDER were both first-time first-team selections for Carolina. Preseason C-USA Player of the Year JUAN GUERRA was a repeat first-team honoree, as was Lacey from Tulsa.

Tulsa led all teams with seven total selections, while South Carolina had six and four apiece for SMU and UAB. SMU, South Carolina and Tulsa all had two selections on the league’s All-Freshman team.

Click on the above PDF for the complete list of award winners.