LAKELAND, Fla.—The Southeastern University men's soccer team came away with a pretty impressive haul of awards at The Sun Conference Tournament Banquet, hosted by the Fire.
The regular season champs came away with three first team, a second team, and an honorable mention all-conference selections. The Fire also boasted the Player of the Year, the Coach of the Year, and the Freshman of the Year.
The Conference Player of the Year and Offensive Player honors went to
Pedro Ivo Dias. A junior midfielder from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil earned this honor after being a second team All-Conference member last season. This season, he was second in the conference in points (26), goals (10), and third in assists (6). Dias was named Sun Conference Player of the Week twice. He also earned first team honors as an all-conference performer.
The Freshman of the Year went to goalkeeper
Jorge Navarrete. Navarrete, from Plant City, Florida appeared in 17 games with 14 starts racking up a 12-3 record. He recorded seven shutouts, while making 71 saves. Navarrete is currently riding a five match shutout streak. This season, he has been named Sun Conference Defensive Player of the Week three times and earned NAIA National Player of the Week once. He also earned first team honors.
Clay Roberts was named the league's Coach of the Year, guiding the Fire to their first Sun Conference title along with their first appearance the NAIA Top 25 ranking. Southeastern concluded the season ranked 17th in the country. The Fire went 13-4 overall and 8-1 in the Sun Conference including seven shutouts in their last eight contests.
Kendall Crouse joined Ivo Dias and Navarrete on the first team list. The junior from Lakeland has helped the Fire defense have zero goals allowed in its last 495 minutes of play. In nine conference games, the Fire gave up just five goals; four in one game.
Gerritson Craane was selected to the second team after recording four goals and nine assists, and freshman
Jonathan Jimenez was named honorable mention netting six goals during his rookie season.
The Fire begin play in The Sun Conference Tournament tomorrow at 7 p.m. against Keiser.
