Central Islip, N.Y. – After winning the East Coast Conference's regular season title, members of the LIU Post Pioneers men’s soccer teams were awarded with four out of five top All-Conference honors. Senior midfielder Per Forgaard (Stavanger, Norway) was named the Offensive Player of the Year, junior Jesper Malmstrom (Linkopping, Sweden) won the Goalkeeper of the Year honor, freshman Charlie Ledula (London, England) earned the Rookie of the Year, and head coach Andreas Lindberg was selected by his peers as the Coach of the Year. Queens' Aitor Gurruchaga (Pamplona, Spain) rounds out the top award winners as the Defensive Player of the Year.
Forgaard, who was selected before the season as the conference's Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, followed through on that prediction by winning the post-season honor as well. The four-time All-Conference honoree finished regular season play tied for third in the conference with 10 goals and led the league with 11 assists. His point total of 31 was also good for second in the ECC. Forgaard's statistics were also among the national leaders, as he ranked in the top-25 nationally in points (21st) and assists (11th) and also with 1.94 points per game (22nd), and 0.69 assists per game (14th).
Forgaard had some help getting the Pioneers on the scoreboard from the Rookie of the Year, Ledula. In 13 games, Ledula found the back of the net on six times. Those six goals were good the most scored by a freshman in the conference and also ranked in the top-10 in the ECC, coming in at No. 9.
The Pioneers were outstanding on defense as well, evidenced by Malmstrom taking home the Goalkeeper of the Year honor. In 14 games in front of the net, Malmstrom posted a record of 12-2-2. He finished with three shutouts, one off the conference lead, and ranked fourth in the conference with 54 saves. In addition, he ranked fifth in the conference with a 1.19 goals against average and fourth with a .761 save percentage.
Gurruchaga earns the Defensive Player of the Year honor after helping the Knights to their first ECC Championship appearance since 2011. In 16 games, Gurruchaga helped the Knights back line finish third in the ECC in allowing only 23 goals and posting a 1.42 goals against average. Despite being honored as Defensive Player of the Year, he also tallied a team-leading three goals on the season.
For the fourth time in the past five seasons, Lindberg has been named Coach of the Year. Under his guidance, LIU Post made it four seasons in a row with at least a share of the ECC Regular Season Championship with a 12-2-2 record (9-1-0 ECC). The Pioneers also spent the entire season ranked in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Division II Top 25 poll, climbing as high as No. 10 in the country.
2015 ECC Men's Soccer All-Conference
First Team
F - Luka Ivanovic, Jr., Bridgeport
F - Jason Lampkin, Jr., LIU Post
F - Kyle Poetszch, Jr., Molloy
M - Tom Bowen, Gr., LIU Post
M - Per Forgaard, Sr., LIU Post
M - Glen Reid, Sr., Queens
M - Matias Ruiz, Sr., LIU Post
B - David Arvidsson, So., LIU Post
B - Seb Baxter, Gr., LIU Post
B - Aitor Gurruchaga, Sr., Queens
GK - Jesper Malmstrom, Jr., LIU Post
Second Team
F - Charlie Ledula, Fr., LIU Post
F - Malcolm Shaw, Jr., Roberts Wesleyan
F - Mosiah Whyte, Jr., Molloy
M - Jay Abreu, Jr., Bridgeport
M - Juan Gatti, Gr., Mercy
M - Elio Hernandez, Sr., District of Columbia
M - Ben Wilson, Jr., NYIT
B - Gonzalo Barroso, Sr., NYIT
B - Adil Gowani, Jr., Mercy
B - Calvin Moyes, Sr., Queens
GK - Louis Connor, Sr., District of Columbia
Third Team
F - Alex Barbosa, Sr., NYIT
F - Paul Sandoval, Sr., Queens
F - Junior Sanguina, Gr., Mercy
M - Donovan Cesar, Fr., Mercy
M - Carlos Coto, So., NYIT
M - Ivan Gomez, Sr., St. Thomas Aquinas
M - Lucca Lacerda, Fr., Mercy
M - Maurice Schwab, So., District of Columbia
B - Kehinde Aderounmu, Jr., Roberts Wesleyan
B - Oliver Bennett, So., Dowling
B - Victor Salinas Furio, Jr., District of Columbia
GK - Robbie Webster, Jr., Queens
Offensive Player of the Year: Per Forgaard, Sr., M, LIU Post
Defensive Player of the Year: Aitor Gurruchaga, Sr., B, Queens
Goalkeeper of the Year: Jesper Malmstrom, Jr., LIU Post
Rookie of the Year: Charlie Ledula, Fr., F, LIU Post
Coach of the Year: Andreas Lindberg, LIU Post
