Nov. 13, 2007

Complete Release in PDF Format

IRVING, Texas - Conference USA announced its 2007 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 13th Annual C-USA Championship, which is scheduled for Wednesday through Sunday, Nov. 14-18, at West Campus Field on the campus of UAB.

Tulsa earned the regular season title, finishing the season with a 12-2-2 record and a 6-0-2 mark in Conference USA play, and were led by four first-team selections and 2007 C-USA Coach of the Year TOM McINTOSH. Senior goalkeeper DOMINIC CERVI, a four-time C-USA Defensive Player of the Week, was named to the first-team along with teammates JOSE PARADA, ERIC DeFREITAS and CHRIS CLEMENTS.

SMU junior midfielder BRUNO GUARDA repeated as the C-USA Player of the Year, after leading the league in scoring with 21 points (seven goals and seven assists), including three game-winning goals in conference play. Guarda earned a spot on the All-Conference USA first team and was joined by teammates BEN SHULEVA and ADRIAN CHEVANNES.

The 2007 C-USA Defensive Player of the Year honor goes to Kentucky sophomore BARRY RICE. In addition to his defensive prowess that earned him an unanimous selection to the first-team, Rice led the Wildcats in scoring with 15 points on the season. He scored five goals and was credited with an assist against C-USA opposition.

For the third year in a row, South Carolina has produced the C-USA Freshman of the Year winner as goalkeeper JIMMY MAURER takes the 2007 honor. Maurer played more than 755 minutes in goal against C-USA teams and posted an 0.83 GAA to also earn all-conference second-team honors. Sophomore teammate JEFF SCANNELLA, the 2006 C-USA Freshman of the Year, earned a place on the first-team at the midfield position.

South Carolina sophomore defender TYLER RUTHVEN was named the C-USA Newcomer of the Year. Ruthven transferred to Carolina from the University of San Francisco and was a key member of the Gamecock defense that allowed a conference-low seven goals scored against them this year.

Forwards JUAN GUERRA of Florida International and DEJAN JAKOVIC of UAB rounded out the selections to the All-Conference USA first team.

All nine schools were represented on the All-Freshman Team, with South Carolina (Maurer and forward BLAKE BRETTSCHNEIDER) and Tulsa (ZACH NULISCH and CHRIS TAYLOR) each placing two members on the squad.

A complete list of all award winners is available in the PDF link above.