West Babylon, N.Y. – One year after claiming the conference’s Rookie of the Year award, LIU Post graduate forward Lukas Ostermann was named East Coast Conference Offensive Player of the Year in a coaches’ vote released Monday (Nov. 5). Defender Gaston Rozenblum of Mercy College was named ECC Defensive Player of the Year while NYIT forward Bernd Schluter received the conference’s Rookie of the Year honors. Queens College goalie Michael Bolvin claimed the league’s Goalie of the Year award and Mercy Head Coach Pedro Velazquez was named ECC Coach of the Year.
Ostermann ranked first in the conference and second in the nation with 22 goals scored, one year after scoring 14 goals in his first year with LIU Post. He was also tops in the ECC and second in the nation with 50 points scored, easily besting his mark from last season (34). Ostermann had eight two-goal games over the course of the season, scoring two or more points in 14 of his team’s 17 games in leading the Pioneers to the ECC Championship game. The native of Germany was a four-time ECC Offensive Player of the Week this season for the green and gold, finishing in the top-ten in the nation with six game-winning goals, 1.29 goals per game, and 2.76 shots on goal per game.
Rozenblum won the final ECC Defensive Player of the Week award while helping the Mavericks to the 2018 East Coast Conference regular-season championship. Mercy held opposing teams to a 1.22 goals-against average over the season, yielding just 19 total goals under the leadership of the junior from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Rozenblum was also a force on offense, with nine total points (two goals, five assists) for the Mavericks on the season.
Schluter made quite the impression in his debut season in Old Westbury with the NYIT Bears. The graduate student---who earned ECC Rookie of the Year accolades as he had not played collegiate soccer until this year, similarly to Ostermann---led the Bears to the brink of an ECC playoff berth with a team-high 14 goals and 29 points. The German forward scored a goal in five consecutive matches over the season and was the ECAC Division II Offensive Player of the Month in September. Schluter also ranked second in the ECC in goals, points and shots (58) while netting a hat trick twice over the course of the year.
Despite missing the first five games of the season, Bolvin’s play in goal brought Queens College to its first ECC postseason berth and its first double-digit win season since 2015. The junior keeper led the conference with a 0.82 goals-against average while yielding a league-low ten goals and posting an 8-2-2 overall record. In just over 1,100 minutes played, Bolvin posted the second-best save percentage (.804) and made 41 saves while securing five shutouts for the Knights.
Lastly, Velazquez was named ECC Coach of the Year after a brilliant campaign in which he led the Mavericks to the top of the East Region rankings. The Mercy alumnus is 34-11-4 in his three seasons on the sidelines in Dobbs Ferry and the Mavericks went 12-2-1 in 2018 and claimed the ECC regular-season crown in addition.
2018 ECC Men’s Soccer All-Conference
First Team
F – Lukas Ostermann, Gr., LIU Post
F – Maximiliano Rebolledo-Camus, Jr., Mercy
F – Bernd Schluter, Gr., NYIT
M – Manuel Achondo, Jr., Mercy
M – Andras Breuer, Sr., Queens (NY)
M – Jose Izarra, Jr., Mercy
M – Javier Rehberger Martin, Fr., LIU Post
B - Paul Hein, Fr., LIU Post
B – Brad Neal, Sr., St. Thomas Aquinas
B – Gaston Rozenblum, Jr., Mercy
GK – Michael Bolvin, Jr., Queens (NY)
Second Team
F – Vittorio Argeri, Sr., LIU Post
F – Ignacio Mangada, Jr., Mercy
F – Gabriel Torres, Sr., Dist. Columbia
M – Yohance Alexander, Jr., LIU Post
M – Kelvin Herrera, Sr., Dist. Columbia
M – Lucas Santos, Jr., Bridgeport
M – George Yusuff, So., St. Thomas Aquinas
B – Michael Agboola, Jr., Dist. Columbia
B – Nikola Aleksic, So., Molloy
B – Kyle Parish, Jr., LIU Post
GK - Oliver Hessner Hansen, Sr., LIU Post
Third Team
F – Leandro Avila, Jr., Bridgeport
F – Romario Hulea, Jr., Queens (NY)
F – Raphael Pacano, Sr., Dist. Columbia
M – Dan Lembo, Sr., NYIT
M – Kevin Quituizaca, Jr., Queens (NY)
M – Nik Ringdahl Bohlin, Fr., Daemen
M – Tom Stenberg, So., LIU Post
B – Aaron Denk-Garcia, Fr., Mercy
B – Marlon Montanella, Gr., Bridgeport
B – David Ramirez, Sr., Queens (NY)
GK – Jack Nicholson, Sr., St. Thomas Aquinas
Offensive Player of the Year: Lukas Ostermann, Gr., F, LIU Post
Defensive Player of the Year: Gaston Rozenblum, Jr., B, Mercy
Goalkeeper of the Year: Michael Bolvin, Jr., GK, Queens (NY)
Rookie of the Year: Bernd Schluter, Gr., F, NYIT
Coach of the Year: Pedro Velazquez, Mercy
