For the third straight year, at least seven players from the Radford men’s soccer team were recognized as part of the Big South Conference’s postseason awards, which were announced Friday morning by the league office.
The Highlanders captured three of the five major awards – Kieran Roberts was named attacking player of the year, Fraser Colmer was tabbed co-defensive player of the year and the conference’s men’s soccer scholar-athlete of the year for the second straight year.
“The end of the year awards is always special and is a true testament to this group having four players on the first team, two on the second,” said head coach Bryheem Hancock. “Our program continues to head in the right direction as we had two of our freshmen earn honors, which is very special. We are excited for the future of our program.”
In addition, four Radford players were designated to the All-Big South First Team. Joining Roberts and Colmer on the squad were Sivert Daehlie and Victor Valls.
The All-Big South Second Team saw the Highlanders place two on the team with Evan Szklennik and Max Edwards receiving honors.
Rounding out the awards, Noy Daabul joined Edwards on the All-Big South Freshman Team.
“The seniors have been a big part of this program’s success in the past four years and for them to get the awards that they have this year is great,” Hanock added. “To have two players be named player of the years and Fraser earn scholar-athlete of the year again is a great tribute to how hard our program works on all aspects.”
Kieran Roberts (Big South attacking player of the year | All-Big South First Team)
Roberts becomes the fifth Highlander in program history to be named Big South Attacking Player of the Year, first since Troy Washington in 1998. Earning a league-best three attacking player of the week awards, Roberts ranks second nationally with 15 goals and third with 0.88 goals per game. The redshirt-junior leads the country with 5.25 shots per game and 2.69 shots on goal per match. He also ranks sixth with 31 points and 10th with 1.82 points per game. Roberts has four multi-goal matches, including two hat tricks with a four-goal match against Gardner-Webb (Oct. 14). Eight of his 15 goals came in Big South play.
Fraser Colmer (Big South co-defensive player of the year | scholar-athlete of the year | All-Big South First Team)
Colmer becomes the third straight Highlander to be named the league’s defensive player of the year, joining Danny O’Keefe (2015) and Jo Vetle Rimstad (2016). The face of Radford’s defense, Colmer does everything that does not show up in a box score. In addition to aiding five shutouts on the season for 30 in his career, Colmer has tallied one goal and assisted on six. He has assisted on two game winners in 2017. Of the Top 10 scorers in the league, Colmer has only allowed four goals to checked players. Picking up two defensive player of the week honors, Colmer finished his career with three.
Sivert Daehlie (All-Big South First Team)
Putting together a strong comeback year, Daehlie ranks nationally ninth with 12 goals, seventh with 31 points and 38th with seven assists. Of his 12 goals, six have come in Big South play. Daehlie has recorded three game winning goals, giving him 14 in his career. Of the 17 games played, Daehlie has scored in 12 matches, owning an eight-match streak with at least one goal (Sept. 9-Oct. 7). Finishing third in the league in goals, Daehlie assisted on seven other goals, finishing tied for second in the conference.
Victor Valls (All-Big South First Team)
Valls controls the Radford offense from the midfield, while also helping out on defense. Starting all 17 matches, Valls tallied two goals and assisted on seven, which was tied for second in the Big South. The redshirt-sophomore collected his first career multi-goal match in 2-0 win at Winthrop (Oct. 21). Valls also assisted on the game-winning goal over No. 10 Virginia. He finished the season with two multi-assist matches against James Madison (Sept. 20) and Liberty (Nov. 1). Valls collected two weekly honors: TDS Player of the Week (Oct. 23) and NCAA Player of the Week (Oct. 25) after a two-goal, one assist week.
Evan Szklennik (All-Big South First Team)
Szklennik earned second team honors for the second straight year after assisting on seven goals and scoring one of his own. The seven assists rank second in the Big South and 33rd nationally. The senior assisted on all four goals in win over UNC Asheville (Sept. 30), tied for most in program history. Six of his seven assists came in league action, which tops the league. Szklennik is currently tied for fifth in program history with 22 career assists. He tallied his lone goal on the season in a 4-2 win over Liberty on Nov. 1
Max Edwards (All-Big South Second Team | Big South All-Freshmen Team)
Started in 10 of the 15 matches appeared in, Edwards was inserted into the Radford lineup following an injury to the backline. Edwards one of the more versatile roles in the Highlander game plan, helping out in all aspects of the game. The frosh aided the backline in four of the five shutouts on the season. Edwards assisted on two goals, including one game winner. He was named Big South Freshman of the Week on Sept. 11.
Noy Daabul (Big South All-Freshmen Team)
Earning 10 starts in 13 matches played, Daabul aided Radford in two of its five shutouts on the season. Daabul joined Edwards with weekly freshmen honors, earning the weekly award on Sept. 18. The frosh played every minute in seven matches. In the 13 matches played, Radford’s defense limited opponents to 10.7 shots per match.
–RU Athletics