Juancho Fernandez Named SSC Player of the Year as Five Spartans on All-SSC
MELBOURNE, Fla. - Twenty-four men's soccer student-athletes are recognized as ALL-SSC for the 2022 season, including a total of five University of Tampa student-athletes. Barry University, the SSC Regular Season Champion, boasts five award winners, including the three First Team honorees. Voting for the awards is conducted among the league's men's soccer coaches.
Juancho Fernandez, a midfielder from the University of Tampa, collects Player of the Year honors. The graduate student from Oviedo, Spain, tallied 18 points this season, including four from two goals in an upset victory in the postseason tournament. He is Tampa's leader in goals (6), assists (6), shots (68), shots on goal (23), and game-winning goals (2). Fernandez is the sixth Spartan named Player of the Year, the first since 20131.
A quartet of Spartans were honored as second-team All-SSC recipients. Adam Forster, Albert Morales, Sean Quinn and Omar Thali were those recognized, joining first-teamer Fernandez.
SSC Men's Soccer History: ALL-SSC Teams | Players & Coaches of the Year | Conference Champions | National Champions |Record Book
Rollins College's Georgios Koliniatis is the Offensive Player of the Year. The Athens, Greece native led the league with 18 points, 1.80 points per game, and four game-winning goals against conference opponents in 2022. Overall, the junior forward scored nine times and tallied six assists for 24 points. Koliniatis becomes the third Tar to earn the award, the first since 20092.
Luis Tovar Romero of Florida Tech is honored as the Defensive Player of the Year. The product of Seville, Spain, registered six shutouts in 14 games. During his nearly 1300 minutes in goal, Tovar Romero tallied a .786 goals-against average, and a .732 save percentage by surrendering just 11 goals allowed and recording 30 saves this season. The senior joins Sam Sawyer (2016) as the only Panthers to win the award.
Barry's Nicolas Villalobos collects Freshman of the Year honors in 2022. The midfielder from Aventura, Florida, started in 13 games for the Buccaneers during the regular season. He gave his team over 1,000 minutes on the pitch over 14 games, picking up six points off two goals and two assists. Villalobos is the second consecutive Barry athlete to earn SSC Freshman of the Year and the fifth overall3.
Florida Tech garners the SSC Staff of the Year4 award following the program's first undefeated season since 1993. The Panther's staff, composed of Robin Chan (Head Coach), Nick Robinson (Assistant), Chris Callaghan (Assistant), and Martin Peat (Goalkeeping), led the program to an 8-0-6 record with a 5-0-5 mark in conference play. Florida Tech finished in a tie for second in the SSC standings, earned the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament, and spent seven weeks in the United Soccer Coaches Top-10. Previously, Chan was named SSC Coach of the Year in 2011 and 2014.
Fernandez is the only repeat First Team All-SSC performer from 2021. His teammates, Omar Thali, Sean Quinn, and Adam Forster, also earn a second consecutive All-SSC honor. Thali was the 2021 SSC Offensive Player of the Year, and Forster was the 2021 Defensive Player of the Year. Koliniatis and Michael Lawrence of Nova Southeastern University move up to the First Team after previously being named Second Team during their careers. NSU's Farid Sar-Sar and Rollins' Maximillian Obermeier round out the repeat All-SSC honorees in 2022.
Player of the Year: Juancho Fernandez, Tampa
Offensive Player of the Year: Georgios Koliniatis, Rollins
Defensive Player of the Year: Luis Tovar Romero, Florida Tech
Freshman of the Year: Nicolas Villalobos, Barry
Coach Staff of the Year: Florida Tech
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2022 Men's Soccer ALL-SSC First Team |
||||
|
Pos. |
Name |
School |
Yr. |
Hometown |
|
F |
Georgios Koliniatis* |
Rollins |
Jr. |
Athens, Greece |
|
F |
David Polanco |
Barry |
So. |
Key Biscayne, Florida |
|
F |
Henri Tophoven |
Florida Southern |
Gr. |
Brüggen, Germany |
|
F (AL) |
Michael Lawrence~ |
Nova Southeastern |
Gr. |
Miramar, Florida |
|
M |
Tampa |
Gr. |
Oviedo, Spain |
|
|
M |
Milos Christoforou |
Nova Southeastern |
Gr. |
Barcelona, Spain |
|
M |
Jari Polm |
Rollins |
Jr. |
Muenster, Germany |
|
M |
Daniel Schaal |
Barry |
Sr. |
Bonn, Germany |
|
D |
Iker Berruezo |
Barry |
Jr. |
Garinoain, Spain |
|
D |
Sjur Drechsler |
Florida Tech |
So. |
Stavanger, Norway |
|
D |
David Bauer |
Lynn |
Gr. |
Rain am Lech, Germany |
|
GK |
Luis Tovar Romero |
Florida Tech |
Sr. |
Seville, Spain |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2022 Men's Soccer Second Team |
||||
|
Pos. |
Name |
School |
Yr. |
Hometown |
|
F |
Federico Serra |
Palm Beach Atlantic |
Sr. |
Cagliari, Italy |
|
F |
Tampa |
Gr. |
Zug, Switzerland |
|
|
F |
Fabio Amaral |
Florida Tech |
Gr. |
Salvador, Brazil |
|
M |
Tommy Shepherd |
Eckerd |
So. |
Hertfordshire, England |
|
M |
Tomas Casas |
Florida Tech |
So. |
La Calera, Argentina |
|
M |
Tampa |
Jr. |
Dublin, Ireland |
|
|
D |
Farid Sar-Sar* |
Nova Southeastern |
Sr. |
San Martin, Argentina |
|
D |
Jordi Ramon |
Barry |
Sr. |
Valencia, Spain |
|
D |
Tampa |
Gr. |
Barcelona, Spain |
|
|
GK |
Maximillian Obermeier~ |
Rollins |
Jr. |
Munich, Germany |
|
GK |
Tampa |
Gr. |
Bath, England |
|
^ = 2021 First Team All-SSC
* = 2021 Second Team All-SSC
† = 2021 Defensive Player of the Year
‡ = 2021 Offensive Player of the Year
~ = 2019 Second Team All-SSC
(AL) = At Large Selection
1 Previous UT Players of the Year: Ulf Lillius (1994), Henrik Nebrelius (1995), Roy Fink (2001), Tyler Blackwood (2012 & 2013)
2 Previous RC Offensive Players of the Year: Chris Cerroni (2006) & JD Gruenewald (2009)
3 Previous BU Freshmen of the Year: Mark Anderson (2008), Johnny Rodrigues (2009), Francisco Greco (2018), Juan Caffaro (2021)
4 Previously the Coach of the Year
5 No Sunshine State Conference All-Conference awards were issued in Fall 2020