The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Six Men's Soccer Players Earn All-Conference Honors
11/12/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Nov. 12, 2009
C-USA Tourney Notes | C-USA Championship Central
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- UAB senior midfielder Two-Boys Gumede was tabbed the Conference USA Men's Soccer Offensive Player of the Year, while Gumede and sophomore goalkeeper Carl Woszczynski earned first-team all-conference accolades, league officials announced on Thursday. The duo accounted for two of six Blazer players who were honored with postseason awards by a vote of the league's head coaches.
In addition to Gumede and Woszczynski's awards, junior defender Curtis Ushedo and sophomore forward Babayele Sodade were tabbed second-team all-conference performers, while junior midfielder Michal Mravec earned a spot on the third team for a second straight year. Furthermore, freshman forward Kofi Gyawu was tabbed to the all-freshman team.
The six Blazers who earned postseason accolades marks the third-most individual postseason conference awards in a single-season in program history. The record is nine individual awards which came in 2001.
"I am pleased for all the guys who were recognized," UAB head coach Mike Getman said. "I feel we have a terrific team and there is always a couple people you think maybe could have been included. But for us to have six people recognized is great. Two-Boys earning the offensive MVP, I think he is very deserving and it's nice all the coaches from around the league feel that way about him."
Gumede earns the league's inaugural Offensive Player of the Year award as a result of his play-making ability in the offensive third of the field. Gumede leads UAB this season with five assists and ranks third on the team with four goals and 13 points. He enters the league tournament with 18 assists in his career, which ranks eighth in school history, to go along with 11 career goals.
This year's honor marks the fourth time in four years Gumede has earned a conference postseason award. He earned all-freshman honors in 2005, second-team in 2006 and first-team in 2008 and 2009. He becomes the first Blazer since Rumbani Munthali (1997-00) and the third men's soccer player in school history, to accomplish the feat (Loukas Papaconstantinou, 1993-97).
Meanwhile, Woszczynski was equally as impressive in the net for the Blazers. The three-time league defensive player of the week honoree boasts a 0.89 goals against average (GAA), which is on pace to break the single-season GAA school record. He has recorded seven shutouts this season, which ranks third in UAB lore, while his 12 victories during the campaign are tied for sixth-best in program history.
Ushedo, an all-freshman team honoree in 2007, and Mravec each earn their second postseason honor with this year's nod, while Sodade, UAB's leader in goals (7), points (18) and shots (51), was honored for the first time in his career.
Gyawu, who has played in all 17 contests but made only one start on the year, is the team's co-leader in goals (7) and ranks second in points (16). He is the 13th different UAB player since 1995 to earn C-USA All-Freshman honors.
Tulsa placed a league-best six players on the all-conference teams, including three on the first team. Junior forward Ashley McInnes was named the Most Valuable Player, and teammate Justin Chavez was named Defensive Player of the Year. Marshall coach Bob Gray was named the C-USA Coach of the Year, while Marshall goalkeeper Daniel Withrow was voted the league's Freshman of the Year
UAB, the No. 3 seed overall, will open the league tournament against second-seeded Marshall on Friday night at 5 p.m. at Golden Hurricane Stadium in Tulsa, Okla. The Blazers will attempt to avenge a 3-2 loss against the Thundering Herd in the regular-season finale for both teams last Saturday.
"I think everybody is feeling good and very optimistic," Getman said. "We're healthy, we're ready to go and we are ready to redeem ourselves in a game where we felt we could have played better."
The winner of the contest will take on the Tulsa-Kentucky winner in the championship game in the four-team tournament, which is set to be televised on CBS College Sports on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT.
Live stats, recaps and box scores of each conference tournament contest can be found on the men's soccer tournament central page of the C-USA website, conferenceusa.com.
