Athletics

November 10, 2016 | Athletic Communications

Men’s Soccer Earns Conference Honors

The Huskies placed four players on the All-Conference teams, two rookies on the All-Rookie team and won the Team Fair Play Award.

UConn's Munir Saleh #14 is one of the six Huskies named to all-conference teams. (Stephen Slade '89 (SFA) for UConn)

UConn freshman Munir Saleh #14 is one of the six Huskies named to All-Conference teams. (Stephen Slade '89 (SFA) for UConn)

The American Athletic Conference announced on Wednesday the men’s soccer regular season awards and All-Conference members.

The Huskies placed four players on the All-Conference teams, two rookies on the All-Rookie team, and won the Team Fair Play Award, determined by a points system based on fouls and cards accumulated in conference play.

Sophomore forward Abdou Mbacke Thiam (Dakar, Senegal), and co-captains Kwame Awuah (Toronto, Ont.) and Jake Nerwinski (Lawrenceville, N.J.) were honored as First Team All-Conference members.

Thiam leads the Huskies with 10 goals on the year, currently tied for second in The American. Thiam also has logged 24 points, third most in the conference. The Huskies are 8-0-0 when Thiam scores in a game this season.

Awuah and Nerwinski both received first team honors for the second-straight year. The midfielder, Awuah, scored two goals and compiled seven assists, his seven helpers are second best in The American.

Nerwinski contributed two goals and four assists for the Huskies and aided the UConn defense in registering eight shutouts to this point in the season.

Sophomore defender Simen Olafsen, coming off his Defender of the Week honor, was selected for the All-Conference second team. Olafsen scored his second goal of the year against SMU last Saturday, and has been instrumental in helping the Huskies post eight clean sheets.

A pair of UConn freshmen made the All-Rookie team, midfielders Munir Saleh (Kitchner, Ont.) and Niko Petridis (Norwalk, Conn.). Saleh has started the past few games and played in all 18 games for the Huskies. He recorded his first career assist against UCF on Oct. 22. Petridis has been a steady presence off the bench, playing in 17 games and chipping in one goal and two assists for UConn.

UConn was also honored with a team award, the Team Fair Play Award. This award is given to the team that accumulates the least amount of points in conference play. Committing a foul is one point, being given a yellow card is equal to five points, and being issued a red card racks up 10 points for your team. The Huskies totaled 108 points.

UConn heads to Tampa, Fla. this weekend for The American Championship at Corbett Soccer Stadium. The Huskies take on Tulsa at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 11. The game can be viewed on The American Digital Network.