TAMPA, Fla. – Players from No. 8-ranked Southeastern and RV Keiser earned eight of the 11 first-team spots on The Sun Conference 2019 Men’s Soccer All-Conference team. Second-place Keiser led the way with five first-team picks and Sun regular-season champion Southeastern had three. The honorees – first-team, second-team, honorable mention, Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year, Coach of the Year and Champion of Character – were announced on Thursday, just two days prior to the start of the 2019 Sun Championship Tournament which begins on Saturday with a pair of quarterfinal-round games.
The selections were made in a vote of the 11 conference coaches.
Southeastern graduate student forward Jake Van Der Luit (Chicago, Ill.) was voted the Sun’s Player of the Year. A three-time Sun Offensive Player of the Week in 2019, Van Der Luit finished the regular season with 17 goals scored, ranking him first in The Sun Conference and eighth overall in the NAIA. His seven assists give him a total of 41 points on the season, which is nearly double that of the next player on his championship team (22). Van Der Luit registered four game-winning goals and has led the Fire to a 14-1-2 overall record and a 7-1-1 mark in the Sun. He was a first-team all-conference pick a year ago and was also named NAIA Honorable Mention All-America in 2018.
Keiser freshman forward Adrian Camacho Castro (Bogota, Columbia) was selected as the Sun’s Freshman of the Year. The first-year player led the Seahawks (10-5, 7-2) with 12 goals scored and a total of 25 points. The 12 goals tied him for the second-best mark in the conference behind only Player of the Year Van Der Luit. He led the Seahawks with four game-winning goals and 25 shots on goal for the season.
Southeastern head coach Clay Roberts has been selected The Sun Conference Coach of the Year after leading the Fire to their highest national ranking (No. 8) in program history and their second regular-season Sun title (first since 2015). The sixth-year SEU head coach wins the Sun’s Coach of the Year honor for the second time (2015). His record at Southeastern stands at 69-32-7 entering the coming Sun tournament.
Warner senior midfielder Donovan Ingley (Gainesville, Fla.) has been chosen as The Sun Conference Champion of Character award winner for men’s soccer. A Warner University Royal Ambassador, Ingley also serves as a campus chapel host and a leader in Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). Ingley also volunteers for BALL (Bold Athletes Living for the Lord), a ministry that helps give underprivileged children the opportunity to play a variety of sports in the company of caring college students and learn more about their faith from their mentors.
The Sun Conference All-Conference teams:
First Team
D Harry Molyneux, St. Thomas (Sr.)
D James Paylor, Southeastern (Sr.)
D Takahiro Awaji, Keiser (Jr.)
F Jake Van Der Luit, Southeastern (Gr.)
F Adrian Camacho Castro, Keiser (Fr.)
F Ciro Damine, Keiser (So.)
MF Craig Barker, Southeastern (Sr.)
MF Hannu Tam, Keiser (So.)
MF Tom Barry, SCAD (So.)
MF Evan Finnegan, Keiser (Sr.)
GK Angelo Neto, Warner (Sr.)
Second Team
D Farid Sar Sar, Johnson & Wales (Fr.)
D Joey Dotson, Southeastern (Sr.)
D Jayden Corbridge, SCAD (Fr.)
F Gavin Rochford-Smith, Thomas (Sr.)
F Pablo Gil, St. Thomas (Sr.)
F Daniel Rodriguez, Warner (Sr.)
MF Banabas Ganidekam, Southeastern (Gr.)
MF Cavan Daley, Thomas (So.)
MF Julian Hall, Southeastern (So.)
MF Nicolas Gomez, Johnson & Wales (So.)
GK Mike Marx, St. Thomas (Jr.)
Honorable Mention
MF Joaquin Domber, St. Thomas (Fr.)
MF Widler Monestime, Warner (Sr.)
MF Juan Manuel Collazo, St. Thomas (So.)
MF Skylar Funk, Southeastern (Jr.)
D Romario Atkinson, St. Thomas (Sr.)
D Ben-Avir Espinal, Southeastern (Sr.)
F Ty Bennett, SCAD (Fr.)
MF Jack Chambers, Thomas (Sr.)
D Myke Zamor, Thomas (Sr.)
F Caleb Acosta, Florida Memorial (Sr.)
GK Alex Marciulonis, Johnson & Wales (So.)
First-team repeat honorees from 2018 include Ciro Damine (the 2018 Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year), Jake Van Der Luit, Hannu Tam and Harry Molyneux.