2010 MIAC MEN'S SOCCER AWARDS

MINNEAPOLIS -- For the first time in school history, Augsburg College has swept the top awards in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's soccer, with head coach Greg Holker earning MIAC Coach of the Year honors and defender/forward Chad Gilmer (SO, Bloomington, Minn./Jefferson HS) earning MIAC Player of the Year honors, it was announced on Wednesday.

Six Auggie players earned conference honors in men's soccer, with Gilmer, defender Peter Loyd (JR, Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) and forward Benjamin Wexler (SR, Minnetonka,Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret HS) earning All-MIAC first-team honors, forward Ahmed Gobana (JR, Burnsville, Minn.) and midfielder #T.J. Haag# (SR, Apple Valley, Minn./Burnsville HS) earning All-MIAC honorable-mention honors, and midfielder Matt Bowman (JR, Maple Grove, Minn.) earning a spot on the All-MIAC Sportsmanship Team.

Holker earned MIAC Coach of the Year honors for the second time in his career, after being named to the award by his conference peers in 2006. This season, Holker has led the Auggies to a 15-4-1 overall record, a second-place MIAC regular-season finish (7-2-1) and the conference playoff championship for the first time in school history. Augsburg has reached the MIAC playoffs three of the last five years, and will make its second trip in the last three years to the NCAA Division III national playoffs, facing St. Scholastica in the first round on Saturday (11/13) at 7:30 p.m. in Whitewater, Wis.

He has led a dramatic turnaround of Augsburg's men's soccer fortunes in his seven seasons at Augsburg, with a 71-46-16 (.594) record entering the NCAA playoffs. His 71 wins in seven years matches the win totals of the 18 Auggie seasons prior to his arrival (71-212-17 from 1986 to 2003).

Augsburg's 15 wins matches the 1975 squad (15-2-1) for the most single-season wins of any Augsburg team, and marks the fourth time in the last five years that Augsburg has recorded a double-digit victory campaign.

Gilmer is the first Auggie to earn MIAC Player of the Year honors since the award was established in 1984, and just the third sophomore to ever earn the honor, joining Tom McCarr of St. Thomas in 1985 and John Boyd of St. John's in 1986. Gilmer is also the first non-senior to earn MIAC Player of the Year award since Kevin Jensen of St. Olaf claimed the first of back-to-back Player of the Year honors in 1998.

Gilmer has proven his versatility for his squad this season. He started the season as a forward, but has played multiple positions on the field throughout the year, starting at defender in the Auggies' most recent games. A dangerous player on set pieces, Gilmer leads the Auggies with eight goals this year, adding five assists for 21 points, including four game-winning goals. He has seen action in 1,507 of Augsburg's 1,841 team minutes (81.9 percent) this season, the second-most minutes played of any Auggie.

His eight goals tied him for fourth among all conference players in overall statistics, and his 21 points were tied for fifth-best in the league. In conference games-only, his four goals and 10 points both ranked ninth-best among league players. An All-MIAC honorable-mention recipient last season, Gilmer now has nine goals and five assists for 23 points in 34 career games (all starts).

Loyd repeated his All-MIAC first-team honors from last year, as an anchor of the one of the strongest defenses in the conference. In overall play, the Auggies ranked second defensively in the MIAC, allowing a 0.73 team goals-against-average (15 goals in 20 games), while recording an MIAC-high 12 shutouts. Augsburg allowed just nine goals in 10 conference games, a 0.87 team GAA that ranked third-best in the conference, with five shutouts.

Loyd saw action in a team-high 1,662 minutes of action -- on the field 90.3 percent of the team's total minutes this season, with three goals to his credit. In his three seasons at Augsburg (57 games, 56 starts), he has six goals and one assists for 13 points.

Wexler transferred to Augsburg after playing his first three seasons at Division I Providence (R.I.), and his addition paid immediate dividends for the Auggies. Wexler has six goals and one assists for 13 points in 19 games (17 starts), the second-most goals of any Auggie, including four game-winning goals. His six goals rank eighth among MIAC players in overall statistics.

Gobana shined as a starter at forward this season, with three goals and a team-high-tying six assists in 20 games (19 starts), ranking him seventh in the MIAC's overall statistics in that category. In his two seasons as an Auggie (34 games, 29 starts), Gobana has eight goals and six assists for 22 points, including two game-winning goals.

Haag has developed a reputation as a solid midfielder, seeing action in 18 games (12 starts) and 964 minutes this year. In two seasons after transferring from Dakota County Technical College, Haag has one assist in 27 Auggie games (19 starts). This past summer, he also played for the Rochester Thunder, a United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League team.

Bowman was named to the All-MIAC Sportsmanship Team. As a part of the conference's sportsmanship initiative, members of the All-MIAC Sportsmanship Team are selected by their coaches and teammates as individuals who demonstrate ideals of positive sportsmanship both on and off the field of competition. A midfielder, Bowman has appeared in 20 games (15 starts) this season, with a goal and a team-high-tying six assists, ranking him seventh in the MIAC's overall statistics in that category.

Bowman's story is one of redemption. In August 2008, Bowman collapsed and nearly died during an Augsburg preseason scrimmage, and he was diagnosed with a rare heart condition that forced him to have open-heart surgery. He missed the entire 2008 season, but returned to play in 2009 and has been a solid contributor ever since. In 52 games (41 starts) in his three competitive seasons, Bowman has two goals and 15 assists for 19 points.