Programs and Student-Athletes Honored with 2017 #AEMSOC Awards
BOSTON — Four America East men’s soccer programs took home major conference awards as the 2017 hardware was handed out on Friday afternoon on the eve of the conference championship quarterfinals.
University of New Hampshire’s Robin Schmidt earned Striker of the Year honors while UMass Lowell’s Jakov Basic and Ivan Blaskic took home Midfielder and Defender of the Year accolades, respectively. Vermont's Aron Runarsson was named Goalkeeper of the Year and the UNH coaching staff was honored as Coaching Staff of the Year.
The 2017 #AEMSOC awards, along with the All-Conference & All-Rookie teams, were determined in a vote by the league's head coaches who were not permitted to vote for their own players. The All-Academic team was voted on by a committee of administrators from the conference’s member institutions.
Striker of the Year
Robin Schmidt, Sr., Forward, New Hampshire
- New Hampshire’s first Striker of the Year.
- Ranks second in the league with 1.2 points per game.
- His nine points and four goals in conference play were second most.
- Also a first-team All-Conference forward.
Midfielder of the Year
Jakov Basic, So., Midfielder, UMass Lowell
- Ranks ninth in the conference with 11 points after scoring four goals and adding three assists during the season.
- Basic is UMass Lowell’s first Midfielder of the Year one year after earning Rookie of the Year accolades.
- Also a first-team All-Conference midfielder.
Defensive Player of the Year
Ivan Blaskic, So., Back, UMass Lowell
- Second straight River Hawk to earn Defender of the Year honors after Eric Martin did so last year.
- Helped UMass Lowell post a league-high tying 0.71 team goals against average in league play.
- Started all 16 games and tallied three goals and an assist.
- Also a first-team All-Conference back.
Goalkeeper of the Year
Aron Runarsson, So., Goalkeeper, Vermont
- Posted a 0.69 GAA and .862 save percentage in league play in leading Vermont to the #AEMSOC regular season title.
- Vermont’s first GK of the Year since 2012 and just the second in program history.
- Also the first-team All-Conference goalkeeper.
Rookie of the Year
Noah Luescher, Fr., Forward, Binghamton
- His 11 points rank ninth overall and tops among rookies.
- Ranks third overall with five assists.
- Luescher is the first Bearcat to be Rookie of the Year since 2003 (Stefan Gonet).
- Also an America East All-Rookie choice.
Coaching Staff of the Year
New Hampshire
- Led by head coach Marc Hubbard, New Hampshire is the 20th ranked team in the nation and in line for its first NCAA tournament appearance since 1994.
- UNH’s .684 win percentage (11-2-4) ranks among the best in the nation.
- This is the Wildcats’ first Coaching Staff of the Year honor since 2009 and fourth in school history.
- Hubbard is assisted by Rich Weinrebe, Simeon Steward and Dave Williams.
Twenty-two players earned All-Conference recognition while 11 were All-Rookie choices and 14 garnered All-Academic recognition. View the complete award winners listing.
The 2017 #AEMSOC championship gets underway with quarterfinal action on Saturday, Nov. 4 as #4 Albany hosts #5 UMBC at 2 p.m. and #3 New Hampshire hosts #6 Stony Brook at 7 p.m. Semifinal action takes place on Wednesday, Nov. 8 with #2 UMass Lowell welcoming the New Hampshire-Stony Brook winner and #1 Vermont hosting the Albany-UMBC winner. Both semifinal games start at 7 p.m. The semifinal winners will face off for the 2017 conference title at the higher remaining seed on Sunday, Nov. 12. All tournament games will air on either ESPN3 or AmericaEast.TV.
Stay up-to-date on the tournament by visiting Championship Central for streaming and live stats links as well as box scores, highlights and recaps following each round in addition to team information, tournament history and more.
Follow @AmericaEast and @AEDigitalNet on Twitter to get the real-time championship updates. Use the #AEChamps and #AEMSOC hashtags to join the conversation.
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