FGCU men’s soccer rakes in postseason awards

Following another season in which it claimed an Atlantic Sun Conference regular-season title, the FGCU men’s soccer team received a plethora of postseason awards on Wednesday, highlighted by Rodrigo Saravia being named A-Sun Player of the Year.

In addition to Saravia, Aaron Guillen was tabbed as the A-Sun Defensive Player of the Year, Nathan Ingham earned A-Sun Goalkeeper of the Year honors and Bob Butehorn was rewarded as A-Sun Co-Coach of the Year.

All three players were named to the A-Sun First Team where they were also joined by Albert Ruiz as FGCU had a league-high four First Team selections for the second-straight year.

In total, a program-record nine members of the Green and Blue were named to A-Sun teams as Nicolas Samayoa, Miguel Jaime and Dylan Sacramento were all chosen to the A-Sun Second Team. Rounding out the postseason recognitions for FGCU were Preston Kilwien and Dennis Zapata both being named to the A-Sun All-Freshman Team.

Saravia becomes the first player in the program’s young, but successful, history to be named A-Sun Player of the Year. Guillen is the just the second player in program history – and first field player – to be named A-Sun Defensive Player of the Year, joining goalkeeper Adam Glick in 2010. He is also now just the 14th player among current A-Sun institutions to have been named to the First Team on three occasions. Ingham is the first goalie in program history to win Goalkeeper of the Year honors.

Butehorn, meanwhile, earns his third A-Sun Coach of the Year recognition as he also shared the award in 2009 and won it outright in 2011. Since he won his first award in 2009, no other coach in the league has claimed the honor even twice. He has guided the Eagles to a 7-3-3 overall record this year, an unprecedented sixth-straight A-Sun regular-season title with a 4-0-1 mark (no other school has even won five in a row) and an official RPI of 31 heading into the A-Sun Championship, which the Green and Blue will host as the No. 1 seed.

“I’m so happy for Rodrigo, Aaron and Nate as they’ve put in so much hard work it’s great to see them rightfully rewarded with their individual accolades,” stated Butehorn. “It’s also fantastic to see so many other guys receive recognition. It speaks volumes to the depth on the roster, talent that each guy has and the effort and work they’ve put forth.

“I’m also really proud of the job our current and former coaching staffs have done in preparing and training our players to help put them in situations like this to be recognized as the best in the league,” Butehorn continued. “I’d like to thank Joe Dincecco, Phil Boerger, Eduardo Villarreal, Alec Dufty, Sheldon Cipriani, Chris Gores, Eric Krause and the rest of our program’s support staff for everything they’ve done over the past several years to help get us to this level.”

Since the A-Sun implemented a Goalkeeper of the Year award in 2012, it marks the first time in the same season a team has had the Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Goalkeeper of the Year. Additionally, it’s the first time since former league member Campbell in 2008 that the same team has claimed the Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Coach (or Co-Coach) of the Year. That feat has now only been accomplished three times in conference history, with Campbell also having the other such occurrence as that came in 2005 – a year in which three players shared Defensive Player of the Year honors.

Below are snapshots of each of FGCU’s all-conference winners.

Saravia (Guatemala City, Guatemala/College Internacional Montessori)
Saravia has controlled the middle of the pitch for FGCU for the past several years, and was rewarded for his outstanding play this season. Saravia has been an all-league selection every year he’s worn the Green and Blue as he was an All-Freshman Team pick, Second Team selection as a sophomore and now two-time First Team member.

He’s started 11 of the 12 games he’s appeared in this year and has a career-high three assists – including both helpers in FGCU’s 2-1 win at Brown. His 1,001 minutes this season are the most by any non-defender or goalie on the FGCU roster as he orchestrates the Eagles’ gameplan on a daily basis.

Guillen (El Paso, Texas/Coronado HS)
Guillen serves as a central defender for the Eagles and has been a core member of the backline since stepping foot on campus. Like Saravia, he is now also a four-time all-league pick as he was tabbed as an All-Freshman Team member and then a First Team selection each of the past three years. Over the past four years, FGCU has played 69 games, and Guillen has appeared in 67 of them while starting 66 times.

This year he is the backbone of FGCU’s league-leading defense as the Eagles are again pacing the conference in nearly every key category. The Green and Blue leads the A-Sun in goals allowed (nine – 13 fewer than any other team), goals against average (0.66 – twice as low as any other team) and shutouts (seven – three more than any other team). Additionally, in A-Sun games, FGCU allowed just one goal in five matches and finished with a goal differential of +14.

Ingham (Keswick, Ontario/Keswick HS)
Ingham has now been named to the First Team each of the past two seasons as for the second year in a row he is leading the league in nearly every goalkeeping statistic. He played in 11 games (10 complete games as he missed two-and-a-half with an injury) and in those 10 contests he posted a league-leading seven shutouts. He leads the A-Sun with a 0.44 goals against average – which is seventh nationally and 0.89 better than anyone else in the conference. He is on pace to shatter the A-Sun single-season record for goals against average which is currently 0.61 set in 1987.

His five goals allowed all year are 17 fewer than any other goalkeeper in the league who played at least 1,000 minutes, and he did it competing against the best non-conference schedule in the A-Sun as FGCU faced three top-10 RPI opponents. He leads the A-Sun with a save percentage of .872 – which is tied for sixth nationally and .119 better than anyone else in the conference. His seven shutouts this year are three more than anyone else in the A-Sun as Ingham set the all-time A-Sun career shutout record with his 26th this past Saturday. Additionally, he has been named A-Sun Defensive Player of the Week on three occasions this season and a record-tying six times in his career.

Ruiz (Barcelona, Spain/UE Cornella/CE L’Hospitalet)
Ruiz was named to the All-Freshman Team last year and followed it up with a First Team honor this season. The striker leads FGCU and ranks fourth in the A-Sun with 13 points. His nine points in A-Sun games (four goals, one assist) are tied for the most in the league along with fellow FGCU teammate Skylar Wilks. The four goals in conference games are the most in the A-Sun. He has a team-high-tying six goals, one shy of matching the FGCU single-season program record, and two of those strikes are game-winners. The six goals are tied for the third-most in the A-Sun. Ruiz missed the first three games of the year with an injury, but over the course of the final four regular-season games he has scored four goals and issued an assist for nine points.

Samayoa (Guatemala City, Guatemala/Colegio Valle Verde)
Another core backline member for the Eagles, Samayoa has started all 11 games that he’s appeared in, and despite not playing in all of FGCU’s 13 games he has still played the fourth-most minutes on the team with 1,019. Primarily a central defender for an FGCU team which leads the A-Sun in nearly every defensive category, Samayoa assisted in FGCU posting four shutouts in five tries during the A-Sun slate. Samayoa also added a goal and an assist in the A-Sun opener against Jacksonville – a 4-0 victory over the Dolphins.

Jaime (Denver, Colo./Cherry Creek HS)
Jaime was named to the All-Freshman Team last year and on Tuesday was selected to the A-Sun All-Academic Team. He ranks fourth on FGCU with six points off two goals – one game-winner – and two assists. In FGCU’s final two regular-season games he issued an assist in each contest, including the lone helper in a 1-0 win at UNC Wilmington on Saturday. Jaime scored his game-winning goal at Stetson in an early-season A-Sun victory.

Sacramento (Winnipeg, Manitoba/York University)
Sacramento lands on the Second Team in his first season with the Eagles after transferring from York University in Canada. The forward has made a profound impact offensively for the Green and Blue as he ranks fifth in the A-Sun with 12 points off six goals. Three of those goals came in A-Sun contests as his six points are the third-most in the league. His six goals overall are tied for the FGCU lead and one shy of matching the single-season program record. He has two game-winning goals, and Sacramento has accumulated those stats while playing in only nine of FGCU’s 13 games.

Kilwien (Pleasant Hill, Calif./College Park HS/Campolindo HS)
Kilwien played in seven games while making two starts as a defender as part of FGCU’s league-leading backline. His lone goal of the year came in dramatic fashion in the 89th minute of his collegiate debut as he delivered a strike from 35 yards out to defeat Princeton, 3-2, and snap what was at the time the nation’s longest unbeaten streak at 10. The goal ended up as the No. 3 Play on SportsCenter’s Top 10 Plays that night and resulted in Kilwien being named A-Sun Defensive Player of the Week. Kilwien’s 10 shots were the sixth-most on the FGCU roster and the most by any defender.

Zapata (Orlando, Fla./University HS)
Zapata started 12 of FGCU’s 13 games and issued one assist as that came against A-Sun foe Lipscomb. His 748 minutes were the second-most among all FGCU midfielders. Zapata’s 12 shots were the fourth-most on the team and the highest among any non-forward on the FGCU roster. He also aided in FGCU’s league-leading defense which paced the conference in fewest goals allowed, goals against average and shutouts.

A-SUN CHAMPIONSHIP
FGCU is the No. 1 seed in the upcoming A-Sun Championship, which gets underway Thursday, Nov. 5, at 7 p.m. as the FGCU Soccer Complex will serve as host of the match featuring No. 4 seed USC Upstate vs. No. 5 seed Jacksonville. The winner of that contest will then face FGCU in a semifinal at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 7.

No. 2 seed North Florida will host the other semifinal against No. 3 seed Lipscomb that same night. The final is set for Saturday, Nov. 14, at 7 p.m. on the campus of the highest remaining seed.