West Babylon, N.Y. – The East Coast Conference Men’s Soccer All-Conference Teams were released on Friday afternoon with University of the District of Columbia’s Vitor Gomes (Fortaleza, Ceará-Brazil), Bridgeport’s Clement Anet (Cosse le Vivien, France), and Mercy duo Matthias Kuhn (Viernheim, Germany) and Pau Echarri (Madrid, Spain) headlining the honorees.
Gomes earns the league’s Offensive Player of the Year honor. The senior midfielder ranked second in the ECC in goals (12) and third in points (27). Many of Gomes’ goals were of the clutch variety, with five being game-winners. That figure led the ECC and ranked sixth in all of Division II. Four of the game-winners also came in ECC play, as Gomes helped the Firebirds earn the program’s first ECC Championship berth since 2017.
Kuhn was selected as the ECC Defensive Player of the Year. Kuhn anchored the best defense in the ECC, helping the Mavericks allow just 16 goals and a conference-low 0.96 goals against average. Despite spending much of his time on the backline, Kuhn also contributed seven goals and one assist for 15 points on the season. His goal and points total both rank within the top-10 among the ECC leaderboard.
Anet claims the league's Goalkeeper of the Year award. The two-time ECC Defensive Player of the Week was outstanding during conference play to help the Purple Knights earn a spot in the ECC Championship. In ECC-only action, he led the league with a .862 save percentage, while ranking second with five wins, four goals against, and a 0.44 goals-against average. Overall, he finished the year with 55 saves and ranked fourth in the league with a 1.02 goals against average.
Echarri is the second Maverick to earn one of the league’s top honors as the Rookie of the Year. The first-year standout tallied nine goals and dished off two assists for 20 points on the season. His goal total was good for fourth in the ECC while his point total ranked sixth.
St. Thomas Aquinas head coach Graham Browns wraps up the top awards after being selected the ECC Coach of the Year by his peers. Brown led the Spartans to their first-ever ECC Regular Season Championship and the top seed in the ECC Championship with a 9-3-3 record.
2021 ECC Men's Soccer All-Conference
First Team
F - Anthony Bolivar Sanchez, Sr., St. Thomas Aquinas
F - Pau Echarri, Gr., Mercy
F - Dylan Ruiz, Sr., Roberts Wesleyan
M - Juan Pablo Cedeno Varea, Jr., St. Thomas Aquinas
M - Vitor Gomes, Sr., Dist. Columbia
M - Peter Meyer, Gr., Molloy
M - Lucas Sousa, Fr., Bridgeport
B - Tom Godden, Sr., Bridgeport
B - Matthias Kuhn, Jr., Mercy
B - Luis Rubio, Sr., Bridgeport
GK - Clement Anet, Gr., Bridgeport
Second Team
F - Ignacio Pericet, Fr., Dist. Columbia
F - Nicholas Tagios, So., Queens
F - Jorge Umana, Jr., St. Thomas Aquinas
M - Cole Allen, Fr., St. Thomas Aquinas
M - Marc-Anthony Blackburn, Sr., Roberts Wesleyan
M - Michel Egbame, Sr., Dist. Columbia
M - Leonel Zelaya, Fr., Queens
B - Benjamin Lidh, Fr., St. Thomas Aquinas
B - Samuel Nicolodi, Jr., Dist. Columbia
B - Genarro Vilardi, Gr., Molloy
GK - Javier Abadia Torres, Sr., Dist. Columbia
GK - Asier Vegas, Sr., St. Thomas Aquinas
Third Team
F - Jesse Clark, Sr., Bridgeport
F - Archie Jones, Sr., Mercy
F - Jesse Schleeper, Gr., Molloy
M - Daniel Agulo, So., Staten Island
M - Tristan Greenidge, Fr., St. Thomas Aquinas
M - Ozar Razo, So., Bridgeport
M - Rainiero Salas, Sr., Mercy
B - Ryan Collins, Jr., St. Thomas Aquinas
B - Jan Fosterling Beltran, Jr., St. Thomas Aquinas
B - Alex Perez Vega, Sr., Roberts Wesleyan
GK - Nick Conklu, Gr., Molloy
Offensive Player of the Year: Vitor Gomes, Dist. Columbia
Defensive Player of the Year: Matthias Kuhn, Mercy
Goalkeeper of the Year: Clement Anet, Bridgeport
Rookie of the Year: Pau Echarri, Mercy
Coach of the Year: Graham Brown, St. Thomas Aquinas
