C-USA Announces Men's Soccer Award Winners

TAMPA- Conference USA announced its 2001 all-league teams and postseason award winners at the annual pre-tournament banquet Wednesday at the Temple Terrace Golf and Country Club. The C-USA Tournament will be held Thursday, Friday and Sunday at USF Soccer Stadium.

In his first season at the helm of the Saint Louis program, DAN DONIGAN is the Conference USA Coach of the Year. After spending the last four seasons as a Billikens' assistant coach, Donigan led Saint Louis to a 10-0-0 start this season, the best start by a first-year coach in school history. The third-ranked Billikens (14-1-0, 9-1-0 in C-USA) won their second straight league regular season title and are the top seed in the tournament. The 14-1-0 record is SLU's best since 1991.

Saint Louis forward DIPSY SELOLWANE, the nation's leading goal scorer (20 goals, 1.33 per match), is the Conference USA Player of the Year. Selolwane is also a candidate for the Missouri Athletic Club National Player of the Year award, as his 20 goals are the best by a SLU player since first-team All-American Brian McBride (24) in 1993, and his 43 points are the best since 1995 MAC National Player of the Year Matt McKeon (54). When Selolwane scored four goals against South Florida on Oct. 20, it marked the first four-goal match by a Billiken since Jack Kinealy had four against Miami (Fla.) on Oct. 22, 1966. This marks the second straight year that a Saint Louis player has garnered the team's top individual honor. SLU's Jack Jewsbury won the award in 2000.

Saint Louis defender MARTY TAPPEL is the Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year. Tappel has played every minute of every match this season, picking up three assists along the way. Saint Louis has allowed 11 goals in 15 matches this season for an average of 0.76. He was named to SLU's Nike Classic All-Tournament team earlier this season.

Selolwane and Tappel were joined on the First Team All-Conference USA by forwards JASON CUDJOE (South Florida) and SEAN FRASER (Memphis), midfielders BRAD DAVIS and MIKE HILL (Saint Louis), SEAN RETI (Marquette) and JEFF THWAITES (South Florida), defenders ADRIAN CANN (Louisville) and JASON COLE (Saint Louis) and goalkeeper JOHN POLITIS (Saint Louis).

For the second time in three years and the fourth time in six seasons, a UAB players has earned Freshman of the Year honors. UAB freshman goalkeeper CLINT BAUMSTARK, has tied the Blazers' single-season shutout record (eight) and is on pace to break the GAA mark (0.63). He has allowed just nine goals in nearly 1300 minutes in front of the net and has recorded 63 saves.

Saint Louis led the way with a C-USA-record six first team selections, followed by South Florida with two and Marquette, Memphis and Louisville with one each.

Thursday's first round matches feature fourth-seeded Charlotte (9-8-2, 5-4-1) against fifth-seeded Cincinnati (7-8-3, 5-4-1) at 5:30 p.m. and third-seeded South Florida (14-5-0, 7-3-0) against sixth-seeded Marquette (10-7-1, 5-5-0) at 8:00 p.m. The winner of the Cincinnati-Charlotte match meets top-seeded Saint Louis at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, while second-seeded UAB (13-4-0, 7-3-0) meets the winner of the South Florida-Marquette match Friday at 8:00 p.m. The championship match starts at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday and will be televised by the Conference USA Television Network.


2001 CONFERENCE USA MEN'S SOCCER AWARDS

First-Team All-Conference USA
F: Jason Cudjoe, South Florida
F: Sean Fraser, Memphis
F: Dipsy Selolwane, Saint Louis
MF: Brad Davis, Saint Louis
MF: Mike Hill, Saint Louis
MF: Sean Reti, Marquette
MF: Jeff Thwaites, South Florida
D: Adrian Cann, Louisville
D: Jason Cole, Saint Louis
D: Marty Tappel, Saint Louis
GK: John Politis, Saint Louis

Second-Team All-Conference USA
F: Jack Jewsbury, Saint Louis
F: Flavio Monteiro, UAB
F: Martin Rey, UAB
MF: David Beck, Saint Louis
MF: Nelson Mata, UAB
MF: Marin Pusek, UAB
MF: Justin Stralka, Memphis
D: Steve Lawrence, Marquette
D: Brantley Spellman, UAB
D: Jared Vock, South Florida
GK: Lucas Mackanos, Charlotte

Third-Team All-Conference USA
F: Simon Bird, Louisville
F: Juan Munoz-Airey, Charlotte
F: Lars Thorstensen, Memphis
MF: Nick Baker, TCU
MF: Mike Kirchoff, Saint Louis
MF: Bryan Godfrey, Marquette
MF: Gabriel Salgado, South Florida
D: Shane Carew, Charlotte
D: Stephen Lewis, Memphis
D: Bubba Garcia, UAB
GK: Clint Baumstark, UAB
GK: Troy Perkins, South Florida

All-Freshman (No position restriction)
Clint Baumstark, UAB
Chris Lee, Marquette
John Liersemann, Cincinnati
Devin Matthews, Louisville
Mira Mupier, Charlotte
Rogerio Oliviera, UAB
Wiremu Patrick, Cincinnati
Luke Rojo, DePaul
Brandon Streicher, South Florida
George Sheppard, Charlotte
Jared Vock, South Florida

Freshman of the Year
Clint Baumstark, UAB

Defensive Player of the Year
Marty Tappel, Saint Louis

Player of the Year
Dipsy Selolwane, Saint Louis

Coach of the Year
Dan Donigan, Saint Louis