Central Islip, N.Y. - Senior midfielder Ahmadoul Gaye of Dowling College and a native of Dakar, Senegal has been named the East Coast Conference Offensive Player of the Year as selected by the conference coaches, headlining the ECC's post-season awards announced Saturday at the conclusion of the ECC men's soccer tournament championship at Dowling College.
Gaye notched eight goals and three assists for 19 points overall
including three game winning scores in helping lead the Golden
Lions to the ECC regular season title.
Senior defenders Thomas Vaaland of Dowling and Randy Jean-Baptiste
of the University of Bridgeport earned Co-Defensive Player of the
Year honors. Vaaland, a native of Stavanger, Norway registered
three goals and six assists on the season, including one game
winner, helping the Dowling defense post a team GAA of 0.47.
Jean-Baptiste, a native of Brentwood, N.Y. was an anchor to a
Purple Knight defense that helped posted a 1.17 GAA on the season.
Jean-Baptiste added two goals including one game winner.
Freshman forward Joe O'Rourke of C.W. Post and a native of London,
England was named Rookie of the Year, after a remarkable debut
season in which he registered 10 goals including four game winners
for the Pioneers.
Rounding out the major award winners, Dowling John DiRico and
NYIT's Carlos DelCid shared Coach of the Year honors. DiRico guided
the Golden Lions to the regular season title l with a 6-0-3 record
(13-2-3 overall) that also included a regular top ten ranking
nationally by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America
(NSCAA) as well as a top regional ranking in the Northeast. DelCid
guided the Bears to a 5-2-2 ECC regular season mark, good for third
place, including a 13-2-3 overall mark.
Dowling went on to capture its second straight ECC tournament title with a semifinal victory over Mercy and a 2-1 victory over Bridgeport in the title game November 3rd. NYIT qualified for the ECC tournament's final four, bowing to Bridgeport in the semifinal round.
