2018 Great Midwest Men's Soccer All-Conference Team (PDF)
TIFFIN, Ohio – On Halloween night, the 2018 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Men’s Soccer All-Conference Team was announced as the final four semifinalists gathered on the campus of Tiffin.
As voted upon by the league’s head coaches, the first, second and honorable mention teams were unveiled with a total of 33 student-athletes receiving special recognition.
All four coaches in attendance helped advance their team through the quarterfinals. Louie Rolko (Lake Erie), assistant coach Christian Galindo (Ohio Valley), Brett Faro (Cedarville) and Rudy Brownell (Tiffin), stood at the podium to address their current seasons and voice a few of their thoughts.
Tiffin was also officially presented with the 2018 Great Midwest regular-season championship trophy, putting an exclamation to a year where the Dragons joined the league a new member and were picked third in the preseason coaches poll.
The first and second team each consisted of 11 selections while the honorable mention team featured one student-athlete from all 12 participating institutions.
The conference tournament semifinals are set to get underway on Thursday at Tiffin’s Pardiso Fields. Top seed and tourney host Tiffin takes on No. 5 Lake Erie in the early game at noon ET while No. 2 Cedarville and No. 3 Ohio Valley, clash at 2:30 p.m. ET.
The most recent NCAA Midwest Region rankings has Tiffin at No. 3 and Ohio Valley at No. 4 as both programs look to pin down a bid to the national tournament bracket.
The Great Midwest Offensive Player of the Year award was presented to Cedarville senior forward Derek Braak, who had 19 points including nine goals and one assist.
Braak had four of goals come in the game-winning variety and he helped push the Yellow Jackets to contend for the No. 1 overall seed in this year’s tournament.
The Great Midwest Defensive Player of the Year hardware went to Tiffin standout Kangni Gabianou. The senior defender has been a leader on a suffocating unit that has won seven of its last eight and pitched six total shutouts.
Cedarville also collected more recognition as Brett Faro was honored as the Great Midwest Coach of the Year. Faro has now earned the repsect of his peers in the league three times after also being named conference coach of the year in 2013 and 2014.
Cedarville carries an 11-5-2 overall record and 10-2-2 mark in conference play going into the semifinals.
Ohio Dominican, the No. 4 seed in this year’s tourney, had freshman Tyler Arnold receive Great Midwest Freshman of the Year honor. He led the Panthers in minutes played and compiled three goals and three assists in his first year at the collegiate level.