The South Atlantic Conference Announces Men's Soccer Award Winners and All-Conference Selections

ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – Mars Hill forward Peter Plougmand was voted the 2024 South Atlantic Conference Men's Soccer Offensive Player of the Year, while Coker's Matty Tricker earned SAC Defensive Player of the Year honors. Coker's Oskar Kaufmann was named the league's Freshman of the Year, and his head coach Michael Antoniewicz was selected as the conference's Coach of the Year.

Plougmand, a senior from Odense, Denmark., leads all of NCAA Division II with 23 goals scored and his 52 points rank second in the nation. Plougmand erupted for a quartet of goals against Newberry and had seven total goals in the first four games of the year. He would go on to record hat tricks against Carson-Newman, Emory & Henry and in the SAC Quarterfinal against Lincoln Memorial. He has seven games with multiple goals on the year and led Mars Hill to the No. 4 seed in the SAC Tournament and a spot in the semifinals.  

Tricker, a senior from Ipswich, England, is one of three individual award winners from Coker. Tricker led a backline that permitted just 14 goals in 16 matches on the season which amounts to a stingy 0.88 goals allowed per game. The highlight for Tricker and the Cobras came in the month of October where they gave up just two goals in seven matches, all Coker wins. Offensively, Tricker had two goals and an assist.  

Kaufmann was a standout during his freshman campaign with the Cobras, leading the team with 11 goals and 29 points. His seven assists were second on the team. The Stockholm, Sweden native posted three braces on the year which came against Carson-Newman, Lincoln Memorial and Wingate. He registered a pair of assists in a SAC Quarterfinal win over Catawba on Saturday night.

In her sixth season leading the Cobras, Antoniewicz led his team to a share of the first SAC Regular Season Championship in program history. His squad finished 10-1-1 in league play to tie with Limestone atop the standings and went 14-1-1 overall. After dropping a 1-0 match against Limestone on Sept. 14, Catawba has reeled off 13 straight without a loss including a 10-match winning streak. Coker led the SAC in goals scored (47), assists (46) and points (140) and are fourth in the nation in each of those categories. 

Coker had four players on the First Team All-Conference as forward Frederic Benedix and midfielders Youri Keijser and Jorhan Chopin joined Tricker.

Limestone led the way with a staggering six players named to the First Team list in forwards Mark Radoki and Claudel N'Goubou to go with midfielder Hugo Vien. Defensively, Stefan Roeb and Falk Jorch were selected along with goalkeeper Nikolaj Bertelsen as Limestone led the nation in goals allowed per game at 0.375.  

The remaining first team selections consisted of Plougmand and Sam Bayly from Mars Hill and Harri Rowe from Lenoir-Rhyne.

2024 South Atlantic Conference Men's Soccer All-Conference

First Team
F – Peter Plougmand, Mars Hill
F – Mark Radoki, Limestone
F – Frederic Benedix, Coker
F – Claudel N'goubou, Limestone

MF – Hugo Vien, Limestone
MF – Youri Keijser, Coker
MF – Jorhan Chopin, Coker
MF – Sam Bayly, Mars Hill

D – Matty Tricker, Coker
D – Stefan Roeb, Limestone
D – Falk Jorch, Limestone
D – Harri Rowe, Lenoir-Rhyne

GK – Nikolaj Bertelsen, Limestone

Second Team
F – Pablo Pozos, Wingate
F – Oskar Kaufmann, Coker
F – Diego Jaramillo, Anderson
F – Vitalis Takawira Jr., Coker

MF – Pedro Santos, Wingate
MF – Marcelo Lopes, Limestone
MF – Juan Lepervanche, Anderson
MF – Mitchell Honcoop, Carson-Newman

D – Leandro Dos Santos Haesler, Lincoln Memorial
D – Yvan Malarte, Coker
D – Johan Morel, Limestone
D – Ben Harvey, Mars Hill

GK – Franco Antoniolli, Anderson

Third Team
F – Kaiss Mansouri, Limestone
F – Adrian Faus, Mars Hill
F – Bautista Vecchi-Ramello, Catawba
F – Emmanuel Arkoh, Anderson

MF – Ronan O'Mahony, Lincoln Memorial
MF – Raul Canas, Lenoir-Rhyne
MF – Bruno Fornes, Mars Hill
MF – Ivan Cardona, Anderson

D – Lukas Berntsson, Coker
D – Guillermo Garcia, Lenoir-Rhyne
D – Nolan McMillen, Mars Hill
D – Marc Vila, Anderson

GK – Daniel Benedek Miklosi, Lincoln Memorial

Offensive Player of the Year

Peter Plougmand, Mars Hill

Defensive Player of the Year

Matty Tricker, Coker

Freshman of the Year

Oskar Kaufmann, Coker

Coach of the Year

Michael Antoniewicz, Coker

Fair Play Award

Newberry

STATISTICAL CHAMPIONS:

Goals per Match: Peter Plougmand, Mars Hill | 1.53

Points per Match: Peter Plougmand, Mars Hill | 3.47

Assists per Match: Federic Benedix, Coker | 0.88

Goals Against Average: Nikolaj Bertelsen, Limestone | 0.380

Save Percentage: Nikolaj Bertelsen, Limestone | .878

Shutouts: Nikolaj Bertelsen, Limestone | 11

Team Points per Match: Limestone | 8.19

Team Goals: Coker  | 47

Team Assists per Match: Coker  | 2.94

Team Shutouts: Limestone | 11

Team Goals Against Average: Limestone | .375

Team Winning Percentage: Coker  | .906

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