Belmont's Ayres Wins Defensive Player of the Year Again (PDF)

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MACON, Ga. – For the second time in the five years that the Atlantic Sun Conference has awarded a Defensive Player of the Year, the award will remain with one player for a second straight year. Belmont’s Jay Ayres helped anchor a Belmont defense that ranked second in the A-Sun in total goals allowed, in goals-against average and tied for the league lead with six shutouts. Ayres joins UCF’s Ryan McIntosh (2003, 2004) as the two to win back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year awards.

Ayres also earned First-Team All-Atlantic Sun honors for the second straight year. Campbell’s goalkeeper Aaron Johnson (second in goals-against average and fourth in saves per game) and Richard Jata (back-to-back Player of the Week awards; top 10 in goals, assists and points) along with Gardner-Webb’s Richard G odfrey (second in goals, 11; tied for second in the A-Sun in points, 23) all made the First Team for the second straight season. Stetson’s Tanner Wolfe went one step farther as he turned in his third-straight First-Team performance after tallying eight goals, to tie for fourth in the league, and a conference-best seven assists. His 23 points tied him with Godfrey for second in the A-Sun.

While Godfrey and Wolfe tied for second in scoring with 23 points, Jacksonville’s senior forward Anton Axelsson separated himself from the rest of his Atlantic Sun brethren to win the Offensive Player of the Year award and earn a unanimous selection to the First-Team All-Atlantic Sun. He finished the season with league-highs in goals, 15; game-winning goals, six; and points 34. He registered at least one point in 13 of the Dolphins’ 18 games including scoring in eight of their nine conference games. His 15 goals put him in a tie for 2nd in the country and his points-per-game average of 1.89 places him in a tie for fourth in the NCAA.

His honor follows on the heels of former teammate Tommy Krizanovic winning the Player of the Year award in 2006. The pair of Dolphins followed a recent trend of schools having different players win consecutive Player of the Year awards. In 2001, Mercer's Max Rooke won the honor followed by fellow Bear Ramiro Canovas one year later. In 2003 and 2004 FAU’s Kristoffer Aarskog and Bjorn Totland took the honors.

Axelsson’s coach, Mike Johnson won Coach of the Year and extended a streak that dates back to 2000. The eight Atlantic Sun Coach-of-the-Year recipients this decade have been eight different men. Johnson led Jacksonville to the regular-season title and a 7-2 mark in A-Sun play. The 7-2 mark ended a four-year span of consecutive losing seasons in A-Sun play.

Despite finishing third in conference play, Campbell placed the most players on the All-Atlantic-Sun First Team. Freshman Josue Soto joined juniors Johnson, Jata and defend er Stephen Oyuga on the top team after scoring eight goals and recording 20 points (fourth in the A-Sun in both categories) in his inaugural season with the Camels. Among the 11 members on the First Team, Soto was the sole member not at least a junior. In addition to the First-Team honor, he earned a unanimous spot on the All-Freshman squad and won the Freshman of the Year award. He joined Willy Guadarrama in 2005 as the only Freshmen of the Year winners to hail from Campbell.

Two other first-year players made the All-Freshman Team as unanimous choices. Forwards Miguel DaSilva from Lipscomb and Stetson’s Eugene Starikov each earned a vote from all the 18 other head coaches and men’s soccer contacts outside of their own. DaSilva ranked third in the A-Sun with nine goals while four of Starikov’s six tallies ended up as game-winners.

Between the First-Team, the Second-Team and the All-Freshman team, all 10 programs placed at least one player on one of the squads. Newcomer Florida Gulf Coast placed a pair on the All-Freshman Team in forward Anthony Forde (eighth in league with six goals) and goalkeeper Adam Glick (third in the A-Sun in saves and shutouts). USC Upstate senior midfielder Troy Simon landed on the Second-Team. Mercer’s Vicente Arze concluded his brilliant career with a second-straight appearance on the Second-Team following back-to-back years on the First Team. Arze tied for the A-Sun lead in assists with seven and added five goals for 17 points, good enough to place in a tie for sixth.

The Atlantic Sun Conference is a 12-member league committed to Building Winners for Life, with a focus on academic and athletic integrity and a balance between the two for the student-athlete, and maintaining a high level of sportsmanship. Headquartered in Macon, Ga., the A-Sun encompasses six of the top eight media markets in the Southeast. The A-Sun consists of some of the most dynamic private and public institutions in the region: Belmont University, Campbell University, East Tennessee State University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Gardner-Webb University, Jacksonville University, Kennesaw State University, Lipscomb University, Mercer University, University of North Florida, University of South Carolina Upstate and Stetson University.