BOSTON - The 2016 America East Men's Soccer All-Conference, All-Rookie, and All-Academic Teams have been announced. The Catamounts were represented by
Brian Wright, an All-Conference First Team selection,
Bernard Yeboah and
Charlie DeFeo landed on the All-Conference Second Team,
Jon Arnar Barðdal received an All-Rookie Team nod, and
Jackson Dayton was named to the All-Academic Team.
RELATED LINKS
America East All-Conference Teams
2016 Men's Soccer Statistics
Binghamton Live Video
Wright received his fourth career All-Conference selection and third career First Team honor. He is not only the top scorer in the league this season, but is one of the best in the country. Currently, he is tied for third in the land with nine assists and ranks in a seventh place tie with 30 points. The senior tallied at least one point in 10 games this year. He started off his final campaign in green and gold with a goal in four straight contests and 15 points in the opening five games of the schedule. He posted four game-winning goals for the Catamounts, including a pair of double overtime walk-off scores. Wright sits second all-time in the UVM record book with 93 career points and 35 career goals.
The tandem of Wright and Yeboah have been two of the best in Division I soccer, which helped Yeboah earn his second career All-America East honor after he was named to the All-Rookie Team in 2013. Yeboah is tied with Wright for seventh place in the country with 10 goals and became the 14th Catamount to score 10 goals in a season. He is ranked in a 21st place tie among the nation's top scorers with 24 points this season. He came into his senior year with 23 career points and has since surpassed the mark in just one season. Yeboah nearly matched Wright with three game-winning goals as a senior. He charted two goals in a game twice this season and scored a goal in each of the opening five games.
DeFeo was tabbed with his second career All-Conference selection after receiving the honor as a sophomore. He found the back of the net three times and recorded three assists this season. The graduate student is tied for third on the team with nine points. DeFeo's three goals each came in a UVM victory and he gave the Catamounts a big lift in Wednesday's 2-0 victory over twin-state rival UNH when he scored the first goal of the game in the 63rd minute. He came through with some timely assists in 2016, which included an assist on Wright's game-winning goal in a 2-1 double overtime win against Stony Brook, who is the No. 1 seed in the America East Tournament.
Barödal picked up his first career honor in a Catamount uniform. The freshman saw action in all 18 games in the regular season with 12 starts. He finished his rookie campaign tied for third on the squad with nine points and dished out five assists, the second most behind only Wright. He scored his first career goal in a tough 2-1 loss to eventual America East regular season champion UMass Lowell, who was ranked No. 18 in the country at the time. In a 2-0 shutout win at Binghamton on October 22, the young Cat reached the back of the net only eight minutes into the game and then recorded an assist on Yeboah's insurance goal in the 67th minute.
For the second straight season, Dayton was named to the All-Academic Team. He earned last year's America East Men's Soccer Elite 18 Award as the player in the championship game with highest grade point average (GPA). Dayton's 3.72 GPA as an engineering major has landed him on the America East Commissioner's Honor Roll every season coming into this year. On the field, he scored in two Catamount victories at Old Dominion and Marist, and also assisted Barödal's goal at UMass Lowell.
No. 3 seed Vermont hosts No. 6 seed Binghamton in the America East Quarterfinals on Saturday (Nov. 5) at Virtue Field at 1 p.m. Watch live for free at AmericaEast.TV.
