TIFFIN, Ohio—The final four teams left in the bracket are preparing to continue their journey through the postseason as the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Men’s Soccer All-Conference Team and individual award winners are announced Thursday (Nov. 3).
 
The league’s head coaches voted athletes to either first team, second team, or third team honors. Additionally five athletes are chosen for individual awards as well as one Coach of the Year.
 
Tiffin University is the 2022 regular season champions and finished with an overall record of 10-2-3.  John Oshakpemhe was voted the Defensive Player of the Year. Oshakpemhe has appeared and started in all 16 games for the Dragons. He has four points on the year including two goals. Under head coach Rudy Brownell, the Dragons have nine players named to All-Conference Honors. George McCarthy and Juan Rosique Alvarez join Oshakpemhe as First-Team honorees. Both McCarthy and Rosique Alvarez earned a place as First-Team All-Conference midfielders. Rosique Alvarez ended the regular season with six goals , two of which were game-winners. McCarthy tabbed three goals and two assists for eight points on the year. The No. 1 seeded Dragons will face Cedarville University in the semifinals on Nov. 3 at 11:30 A.M. ET.
 
Three of the five individual awards belong to Ashland University. Nick Roberts was named the 2022 Great Midwest Coach of the Year after leading the Eagles to a 10-6-1 regular season record and a 9-5 conference record. 2022 Freshman of the Year Francesco Chiappo made an immediate impact for the Eagles in his first college season. The defenseman played and started in all 17 games and led Ashland in minutes played with 1,530 on the year. Chiappo led a powerful defense that allowed opponents to average 1.47 goals per contest. Chiappo’s teammate Ty Bowden takes home the Goalkeeper of the Year award. Bowden totaled 65 saves on the year with a .722 save percentage.
 
Bowden as well as forward Haruki Kimura are First-Team All-Conference selections. Kimura led Ashland in goals scored with nine on the year while also adding two assists. Ashland is the No. 2 seed and will battle reigning Great Midwest Tournament Champions in Lake Erie in the semifinals. The match is set for Thursday, Nov. 3 at 2:00 P.M. in Tiffin, Ohio.
 
The 2021 Freshman of the Year in Teddy Baker returns as the 2022 Offensive Player of the Year. Baker led the league in goals scored with 14 on the year and .737 per game. Additionally, Baker also registered a league-high .789 assists per game for a total of 43 points during regular season play. He is joined by teammates Fabian Kiessetz, Ben Wiemann, Tom Akinola, and Connor Mautino as First-Team All-Conference members.
 
Calum Newson of Kentucky Wesleyan and Jared Zacharias round out the First-Team All-Conference selectees. Newson recorded 14 goals and seven assists this season for 35 points. Last season’s Goalkeeper of the Year, Jared Zacharias had the lowest Goals Against Average at .733 with 56 total saves.
 
The sport’s Elite 26 Award winner was Findlay’s Brendan Ash, who is an Animal Science major. The Elite 26 Award recognizes the true essence of the student-athlete at the conference championship level in his or her sport while also achieving the highest academic standard among his or peers. Ash had the highest qualifying GPA from teams that qualified for the conference tournament as the Oilers were seeded at No. 6.
 
The semifinal round will kickoff at 11:30 A.M. ET with No. 1 Tiffin facing the No. 5 seed Cedarville. No. 2 Ashland vs. No. 3 Lake Erie is set to follow at 2:00 P.M. The winners of both matches will play in the Championship on Saturday, Nov. 5^th at 1 P.M. ET.