Macomb, Ill. – Co-regular season champion Oral Roberts claimed three of the five 2021 #SummitMSOC individual awards that were announced along with the all-league and all-newcomer teams by league officials on the eve of the postseason tournament.
Graduate student Dante Brigida was named the Offensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season, while freshman Felipe D’Agostini was named the Newcomer of the Year and Ryan Bush claimed his second Coach of the Year accolade in the past three seasons.
Brigida led all players with a quartet of goals in Summit League action, while D’Agostini was one of five league players to record a pair of assists to share second in that category. The duo helped an ORU offense tally a league-high nine goals in six league contests.
Bush guided the Golden Eagles to a 4-1-1 mark in league play and a share of their second league title in three seasons. ORU’s 10 wins overall were most among league teams in the regular season.
Denver’s Liam Johnson was named the Defensive Player of the Year, giving the Pioneers at least one individual honoree in all nine of their seasons as a league member. The senior anchored a back line for DU that yielded just five goals in league play and directed a pair of shutouts.
The 11-man all-league first team was made up of players from the four teams that advanced to Macomb for the 2021 #SummitMSOC Championship.
Brigida headlined that group and was part of a league-best quintet of Golden Eagles on the squad as he earned the fourth all-league accolade of his career, including three first-team nods. He was joined by D’Agostini, fellow forward Reed Berry and the defender duo of Logan Bellone and Joe Ruiz. Berry’s honor was the third of his career, while the other trio were all first-time recipients.
Johnson was among a trio of Pios on the first team as he was joined by forward Stefan DeLeone and midfielder Aidan O’Toole. Johnson earned a first-team spot as a midfielder last year but started all 15 games at defender for DU during the regular season.
Clark was the lone Roo on the first team, while Omaha had a pair of honorees. Defender Fitzroy Cummings, the 2020 Defensive Player of the Year, was a repeat honoree while midfielder Kenji Mboma Dem earned his first career honor.
Denver and Omaha paced the second team with three honorees a piece, while Kansas City and Oral Roberts each had two.
The Pios’ frontline of Destan Norman and Kengo Ohira both claimed forward spots on the second team after helping the DU offense put away a league-high nine goals. Ohira’s accolade was the second of his career. Defender Ronan Wynne rounded out DU’s second-team trio.
For Omaha, defender Steve Siy made the second team once again and was joined by the Mavericks’ midfield duo of Ed Gordon and Neville Morgan, who were both first-time honorees.
Kansas City forward Kazuki Kimura and midfielder Arne Neufang got the Roos back to the postseason by posting a 2-2-2 league mark.
ORU senior goalkeeper Miles Motakef earned his third career all-league honor and was joined on the second team by midfielder Eugene Quaynor. Those two helped the Golden Eagles surrender a league-low four goals in Summit action.
Western Illinois goalkeeper Alex Flowers was the lone Leatherneck to earn all-league honors. He led all goalies with a .852 save percentage in league play, yielding only four goals in five matches.
Five of the 11 players named to the all-newcomer squad were also all-league honorees. That double-dipping group includes D’Agostini (ORU), Kimura (KC), Morgan (Omaha), Neufang (KC) and Ruiz (ORU).
The remaining six all-newcomer honorees were Denver goalkeeper Will DeSantis, Oral Roberts midfielder Giovanni Herrera, St. Thomas forward Charlie Horton, Denver forward Oje Ofunrein, Omaha goalkeeper Nathanael Sallah and Denver defender Trevor Wright.
The 2021 #SummitMSOC Championship begins Thursday with a pair of semifinals. No. 1 seed takes on No. 4 Kansas City in the opener at 11 a.m. CT. The second semifinal matchup features No. 2 Oral Roberts vs. No. 3 seed Omaha. All matches will be played at John MacKenzier Alumni Field and will be streamed on ESPN+.
2021 Individual Awards
Offensive Player of the Year
Dante Brigida, Oral Roberts
Defensive Player of the Year
Liam Johnson, Denver
Goalkeeper of the Year
Cooper Clark, Kansas City
Newcomer of the Year
Felipe D’Agostini, Oral Roberts
Coach of the Year
Ryan Bush, Oral Roberts
First Team
Logan Bellone, Oral Roberts, D
Reed Berry, Oral Roberts F***
Dante Brigida, Oral Roberts, F****
Cooper Clark, Kansas City, GK**
Fitzroy Cummings, Omaha, D**
Felipe D’Agostini, Oral Roberts, MF
Stefan DeLeone, F, Denver
Liam Johnson, Denver, D**
Kenji Mboma Dem, Omaha, MF**
Joe Ruiz, Oral Roberts, D
Aidan O’Toole, Denver, MF
Second Team
Alex Flowers, Western Illinois, GK
Ed Gordon, Omaha, MF
Kazuki Kimura, Kansas City, F
Neville Morgan, Omaha, MF
Miles Motakef, Oral Roberts, GK***
Arne Neufang, Kansas City, MF
Destan Norman, Denver, F
Kengo Ohira, Denver, F**
Eugene Quaynor, Oral Roberts, MF
Stevie Siy, Omaha, D**
Ronan Wynne, Denver, D
*total all-league honors
All-Newcomer Team
Felipe D’Agostini, Oral Roberts, MF
Will DeSantis, Denver, GK
Giovanni Herrera, Oral Roberts, MF
Charlie Holton, St. Thomas, F
Kazuki Kimura, Kansas City, F
Neville Morgan, Omaha, D
Arne Neufang, Kansas City, MF
Oje Ofunrein, F, Denver
Joe Ruiz, Oral Roberts, D
Nathanael Sallah, Omaha, GK
Trevor Wright, Denver, D
#SUMMITMSOC
