Connor Miller was named Ivy League men’s soccer offensive player of the year and Andrew Miles earned rookie of the year honors Wednesday as six Cornell players received All-Ivy recognition following an unbeaten conference regular season.
Cornell also received unanimous coaching staff of the year honors, according to Cornell Athletics’ announcement. Miller and fellow senior Adam Schaban made the first team, juniors Griffin Eck, Justin Melly and Kasper Wollstein earned second-team selections, and Miles received honorable mention.
Miller completes four-year first-team run
Miller’s unanimous first-team selection gave the senior midfielder four consecutive seasons on the All-Ivy first team. The Centennial, Colorado, native led Cornell with 16 regular-season points on four goals and a team-high eight assists, starting all 13 games in which he appeared.
Six of his assists came in five conference appearances. He set up all three Cornell goals in the Oct. 24 victory over Dartmouth and assisted on Miles’ winning goal in a 1-0 victory at Princeton on Oct. 17.
Miles finished second on the team with 13 points, recording five goals and three assists. The freshman forward from Novato, California, played in all 15 regular-season games and made six starts.
He scored three goals in Ivy play, including the winner at Princeton and goals in victories over Dartmouth and Columbia.
Schaban, three juniors join All-Ivy teams
Schaban contributed four goals and four assists for 12 points. The senior forward from Fort Worth, Texas, appeared in every regular-season game and started 14, scoring two game-winning goals. He started all seven Ivy contests and finished conference play with two goals and three assists.
Eck and Melly each started all 15 games on Cornell’s back line, helping the Big Red record three shutouts and hold opponents to 17 goals.
Melly, from Arlington, Virginia, led Cornell’s field players with 1,292 minutes and added an assist. Eck, from Broad Run, Virginia, logged 1,234 minutes.
Wollstein led Cornell with six goals despite coming off the bench in all 11 of his appearances. The Berlin native scored four times in six conference games and had two-goal performances against Harvard and Bucknell. His 12 points tied Schaban for third on the team.
Coaching staff recognized after unbeaten Ivy season
Head coach John Smith, associate head coach Luke Staats and assistant coach Tyler Keever received the unanimous coaching staff award after guiding Cornell to an 11-3-1 regular season and a 6-0-1 conference record.
The Big Red won all six home games and outscored Ivy opponents 20-8. Across the regular season, Cornell scored 38 goals, averaging 2.53 per game while allowing 1.13.
Senior midfielder Balazs Feher was Cornell’s Academic All-Ivy honoree. The Budapest, Hungary, native has appeared in two games this season.
Elsewhere in the conference awards, Penn’s Connor Dawson was named defensive player of the year. The league’s first and second All-Ivy teams were expanded because of ties in voting.
Cornell opens tournament Thursday at Berman Field
Cornell faces Harvard at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, at Berman Field in an Ivy League Tournament semifinal. Yale and Penn play in the second semifinal at 7 p.m.
The championship is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 15, at Berman Field.
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