Central Islip, NY- Senior forward Stephan Dimitrov of Concordia College has been named the 2008 Men's Soccer Offensive Player of the Year as selected by the league's coaches and released at the conclusion of the Championship game on Saturday afternoon. Senior back Nick Bell of Molloy College garnished Defensive Player of Year while teammate and fellow senior Ettore Morelli was voted Goalkeeper of the Year.
Dimitrov, a native of Bulgaria, currently leads the nation in goals per game averaging 1.35 and ranks third in points per game with 2.79. With his 23 goals on the season, Dimitrov helped the Clippers to a 5-9-3 overall record.
Bell (Valley Stream, N.Y.) helped the Lions to their first-ever ECC postseason while anchoring a defense that allowed just 1.33 goals per match - including 11 contests in which Molloy let in one goal or fewer (four shutouts).
Morelli (North Bellmore, N.Y.) has compiled an overall record of 10-5-2 and has tallied 4 shutouts for the Lions. He is nationally ranked with a .796 save percentage and averaged 4.88 saves per game during the regular season.
In his first year wearing purple and white, Patric Brundin (Gothenburg, Sweden) has been voted the 2008 Men's Soccer Rookie of the Year. He has tallied 16 points on six goals and four assists in his freshman campaign and helped the Purple Knights to a fourth place slot in the ECC tournament.
In his seventeenth year at the helm of the Dowling College Golden Lions, John DiRico has been selected the ECC Men's Soccer Coach of the Year by his peers. DiRico led the Golden Lions to a 16-2 overall mark while guiding them to a third straight regular season conference title.
The Golden Lions place seven players on All-Conference teams. Lamine Traore, Moussa Keita, Patrick Cunningham, and Chris Green, were named to the First Team while Vladimir Milosavlejvic, and Nemanja Veljovic earned Second Team honors. Juan Vargas rounds out Dowling's representation with Third Team honors.
Molloy College's Jose Batista and William Bell join N. Bell and Morelli on the All-Conference First Team. Nick D'Alessandro earns a spot on the Second Team while John Paul Hughes was named to the Third Team.
The Bears place six players on All-Conference teams with Oscar Gonzales earning first team honors and Maciek Serafin, Josue Cruz and Vincent Tyrrell claim Second Team honors. Ben Bowra and Cosmiso D'Agostino were named to the Third Team.
