BY FHSU SPORTS INFORMAITON
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Fort Hays State Men’s Soccer had seven student-athletes named to the All-GAC Team for the 2019 season on Thursday evening (Nov. 14). Santiago Agudelo is the Offensive Player of the Year, Sergio Villalba is the Defender of the Year, Alec Bevis is the Freshman of the Year, and Gerry Cleary is the Coach of the Year. The Tigers received three first-team, two second-team, and two honorable mention selections.
First-team selections went to senior forward Santiago Agudelo, senior defender Sergio Villalba, and sophomore midfielder Rogelio Lopez.
Agudelo adds another conference player of the year honor to his impressive resume as a Tiger. The Frisco, Texas native was the MIAA Player of the Year in 2018 and adds the GAC Offensive Player of the Year honor this season. Agudelo has 34 points on the season, producing 14 goals and 6 assists to lead the GAC-Champion Tigers. Last year, he also received the D2CCA Central Region and National Player of the Year awards with 58 points (26 goals, 6 assists). He now has a total of 92 points in his two seasons on the field for the Tigers, which is a school record.
Villalba receives the GAC Defender of the Year honor and the first all-conference first team honor of his career at FHSU. A native of Asuncion, Paraguay, Villalba is now a three-time all-conference recipient after earning All-MIAA Second Team honors in 2016 and 2018. Last year, he also earned D2CCA All-Central Region 2nd Team honors. Villalba has appeared in 78 matches throughout his career at FHSU playing 6,285 minutes, accmumulating 32 points (13 goals, 6 assists).
Lopez is now a two-time all-conference performer by earning first-team honors in the midfield. The Katy, Texas native was the MIAA Freshman of the Year in 2018, while also garnering an all-conference second team selection. Has 10 points this season to rank fifth on the team and has a total of 24 points over 36 matches in two seasons at FHSU.
Second-team selections went to junior defender Moritz Walther and senior midfielder Mauricio Etcheverry.
Walther is now a two-time all-conference performer at Fort Hays State. The Wiesloch, Germany native earned All-MIAA First Team and D2CCA All-Central Region Second Team honors last year as a midfielder. Walther moved to the back line to strengthen the Tiger defense this year, but still ranks third on the team in scoring with 12 points (5 goals, 2 assists). Walther has 24 points over two seasons at FHSU. He was also named a GAC/MIAA Distinguished Scholar Student-Athlete for having more than 70 college credit hours and at least a grade point average of 3.7.
Etcheverry picks up the first all-conference honor of his career at FHSU. The Asuncion, Paraguay native has 12 points in his career over 60 matches at FHSU, producing 3 goals and 6 assists.
Earning honorable mention nods were freshman defender Alec Bevis and freshman midfielder Jacob Basden.
Bevis is the 2019 GAC Freshman of the Year. The Wichita, Kansas native leads FHSU in minutes played this year with 1,580. He has played entire matches in 14 of 18 contests so far this year, while helping FHSU allow an average of 1.3 goals per match. He also has two points this year, both on assists.
Basden has been a nice steady addition to the midfield for FHSU this year. The Dural, Australia native has logged 817 minutes and started 11 of the last 14 contests.
Cleary picks up conference coach of the year honors in his first season guiding Fort Hays State. By guiding FHSU to the conference regular season title, Cleary has now led collegiate programs he has coached to 16 conference titles. This is Cleary’s eighth conference coach of the year honor after earning the distinction seven times as a head coach at Martin Methodist College.
Below is the 2019 All-GAC Men’s Soccer Team.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR – FORT HAYS STATE – Santiago Agudelo, F, Sr., Frisco, Texas
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR – FORT HAYS STATE – Sergio Villalba, D, Sr., Asuncion, Paraguay
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR – ROGERS STATE – Jaime Ponce, D, Jr., Enid, Oklahoma
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR – FORT HAYS STATE – Alec Bevis, D, Wichita, Kansas
COACH OF THE YEAR – FORT HAYS STATE – Gerry Cleary
GAC/MIAA ELITE SCHOLAR STUDENT-ATHLETE
Joshua Tatarian, Northeastern State
GAC/MIAA DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR STUDENT-ATHLETES:
Moritz Walther, Fort Hays State
Andre Cunha, Harding
Jonathan Curnutt, Harding
Matheus Ribeiro, Harding
Erol Banuelos, Rogers State
Jarrod Cooper, Rogers State
Jake Simpson, Rogers State
All-GAC/MIAA First Team
* F FORT HAYS STATE – #9 Santiago Agudelo, Sr., Frisco, Texas
F NEWMAN – #14 Eddie Jabbari, Sr., Reading, England
F NORTHEASTERN STATE – #19 Flynn Semmerling, So., Hamburg, Germany
F ROGERS STATE – #7 Jake Simpson, Sr., Cambridge, England
* MF NEWMAN – #10 Victor Rubio Lopez, So., Madrid, Spain
MF FORT HAYS STATE – #6 Rogelio Lopez, So., Katy, Texas
MF HARDING – #14 Christian Ramos, Sr., Denton, Texas
MF ROGERS STATE – #8 Noah Robson, Sr., Liverpool, England
* D FORT HAYS STATE – #13 Sergio Villalba, Sr., Asuncion, Paraguay
D NORTHEASTERN STATE – #15 James Doyle, Jr., Merseyside, England
D ROGERS STATE – #5 Jaimie Ponce, Jr., Enid, Oklahoma
D ROGERS STATE – #6 Micheal Turner, Jr., Ramford, England
G ROGERS STATE – #1 Dillon Dean, Jr., Mustang, Oklahoma
All-GAC/MIAA Second Team
F HARDING – #7 Jeremy Nwonumah, Sr., Chicago, Illinois
F NEWMAN – #9 Ignacio Lerech, Jr., Tucuman, Argentina
F NORTHEASTERN STATE – #11 Aaron Ugbah, Sr., Tulsa, Oklahoma
F ROGERS STATE – #10 Jordan Watson, Jr., London, England
MF NORTHEASTERN STATE – #14 Scott Adams, Sr., Jenks, Oklahoma
MF OKLAHOMA BAPTIST – #8 Alejandro Castillo, Sr., Peralta, Spain
MF FORT HAYS STATE – #17 Mauricio Etcheverry, Sr., Asuncion, Paraguay
MF SOUTHERN NAZARENE – #18 Angel Lopez, So., Dallas, Texas
D OUACHITA – #12 Kobe Coleman, So., Georgetown, Texas
D HARDING – #15 Adrian Renteria, Fr., Grand Prairie, Texas
D FORT HAYS STATE – #20 Moritz Walther, Jr., Wiesloch, Germany
D NORTHEASTERN STATE – #7 Ben Watson, Sr., Sherman, Texas
G NEWMAN – #1 Jean Claude Console, So., Aosta, Italy
G NORTHEASTERN STATE – #0 Justin Hinman, So., Little Rock, Arkansas
All-GAC/MIAA Honorable Mention
MF FORT HAYS STATE – #8 Jacob Basden, Fr., Dural, Australia
MF OUACHITA – #11 Noa Cuellar, Sr., Frisco, Texas
MF ROGERS STATE – #9 Callum Hubble, Jr., Chelmsford, England
MF OUACHITA – #10 Abraham Lazo, Sr., Irving, Texas
MF HARDING – #10 Matheus Ribeiro, Sr., Belo Horizonte, Brazil
MF NORTHEASTERN STATE – #4 Sam Scarth, Fr., Liverpool, England
MF NEWMAN – #7 Santiago Martinez Zuviria, Jr., Buenos Aires, Argentina
D FORT HAYS STATE – #5 Alec Bevis, Fr., Wichita, Kansas
D OUACHITA – #5 Jakob Cuellar, Sr., Frisco, Texas
D NEWMAN – #12 Enzo Nalis, Jr., Bastia, France
D SOUTHERN NAZARENE – #25 Eric Romero, Fr., Dallas, Texas
D NEWMAN – #4 Fernando Rubio Garcia, Sr., Sevilla, Spain
D NORTHEASTERN STATE – #5 Sadaam Yousufzai, Jr., Toronto, Ontario, Canada
G HARDING – #00 Carlos Calderon, Sr., Santander, Spain
G OUACHITA – #1 Matt Day, So., Texarkana, Texas