SUWANEE, Ga. - In exclusive voting by the
league's head soccer coaches, Noe Casanova of Trinity University
was selected 2008 SCAC Offensive Player-of-the-Year and Ted Jacobi
of DePauw University was voted the league's Defensive
Player-of-the-Year.
In that same balloting, Luis Castillo of Austin College was tabbed
SCAC Newcomer-of-the-Year, and Trinity head coach Paul McGinlay was
voted SCAC Coach-of-the-Year.
Noe Casanova, a senior midfielder from Kingwood, Texas, led the
league in scoring with 30 points on six goals and a tied a SCAC
single-season record with 18 assists - which was good for third
nationally. Heading into the postseason, Casanova has 40 career
assists, second all-time in SCAC history and trailing only the 45
posted by Clayton Haden of Sewanee from 1993 to 1996. A Second Team
All-SCAC selection last season, Casanova was a two-time SCAC
Player-of-the-Week (Week 2, Week 9) during the 2008 campaign.
In being selected the league's Offensive POTY, Casanova received 10
votes from the coaches. Richard Hinton of Centre College received
the remaining vote.
Ted Jacobi, a junior goalkeeper from St. Louis, Mo., played
extremely well in his first year starting in goal for the Tigers,
making big saves game after game. He finished second in the league
in goals against average at 0.63 and had a SCAC-high nine shutouts
on the season. He also had 86 saves (fourth in the SCAC). Jacobi
was a two-time SCAC Defensive Player-of-the-Week selection (Week 7,
Week 11).
Jacobi received four votes in the Defensive POTY voting, followed
by Michael Robertson of Trinity with three votes and Adam Boyer of
Centre with two. Kevin O'Neil of Southwestern University and Jimmer
Comerford of Colorado College received one vote each.
Luis Castillo, a first-year midfielder from Kingwood, Texas, led
Austin College and all conference first-year players in goals
scored (7) and total points (18). He led all players in total shots
(77) and shots per game (4.53) and finished the year with three
game-winning goals.
Castillo received four votes in the Newcomer-of-the-Year voting,
followed by Travis Boccard of Colorado College and Zach Garcia of
Trinity, who received three votes each. Austin Hall of Centre
received the remaining coaches' vote.
Coach Paul McGinlay guided the Trinity men to another SCAC title,
the program's 12th overall and 11th in the last 13 years. McGinlay,
who won his 300th game a week ago, is in his 18th season as the
head coach of the Tigers and has amassed an overall record of
302-54-20 (.830). Trinity is currently 19-0-1 and ranked first in
the nation as the team heads to NCAA Sectional play this weekend.
Four years ago, McGinlay led Trinity to a 24-0-0 record and the
NCAA Division III National Championship. In 2007, Trinity was once
again the top-ranked team in the nation and, despite out-shooting
Middlebury 23-12 in the national title game, dropped a
heartbreaking decision on penalty kicks - the team's only loss of
the season. McGinlay is a 10-time SCAC Coach of the Year
honoree and has led his team to an undefeated and untied conference
mark seven times in his career.
McGinlay received five votes from his peers in the COTY voting. Don
Gregory of Southwestern, who shared Coach-of-the-Year honors with
McGinlay last season, picked up two votes, as did Horst Richardson
of Colorado College. Brad Hauter of DePauw and Jeb Burch of Centre
received one vote each.
For the complete 2008 All-SCAC Men's Soccer release, click
here.