HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's soccer team became the first squad since 2006 to roll through Centennial Conference play with a perfect 9-0-0 record. The team backed that up with two victories to claim the program's second Centennial Conference Championship. On Thursday, several standouts from this year's team were honored for their contributions to the team.
Sam Yarosh highlighted the list of honorees as he became the first player in program history to be named the Centennial Conference Player of the Year. The only other player in program history to be named conference player of the year was Howard Morris '86 when the Fords competed in the Middle Atlantic Conference. Yarosh also claimed the conference's scholar athlete of the year award. He is the first player in program history to earn this honor and the first player in the history of the Centennial Conference to be named conference player of the year and scholar-athlete of the year in the same season across all sports. The scholar-athlete of the year is chosen based on the highest grade point average of all the all-conference honorees.
Yarosh was joined by three of his teammates in earning first-team All-Centennial Conference honors. Both Yarosh and Brady Seitz earned first-team all-conference accolades for the second time in their respective careers. Both of these individuals also have an honorable mention All-CC credit to their resumes. Will Corkery and Colin Seitz were also first-team All-CC selections among the coaches. Both of these players earned honorable mention accolades a season ago.
Maclyn Willigan earned second-team all-conference accolades for the first time in his career, while Tejan Walcott and Sam Miller earned honorable mention recognition. Walcott also earned honorable mention last season, while Miller's honor marked the first of his career. Leading these individuals was the 2015 Centennial Conference Coach of the Year Shane Rineer. Rineer earned the honor for the first time in his career.
Sam Yarosh earned Centennial Conference Player of the Year honors after leading the conference in goals (16), points (37) and game-winning goals (6) during the regular season. He recorded a goal in seven of the team's nine conference games and 12 different matches overall. He went on a scoring stretch of eight straight games at the beginning of October. Yarosh has already tied the program record for games started in a career. His standout career has seen him climb to 12th in program history with 32 career goals and third with 10 career game-winning goals.
Brady Seitz earned first-team All-CC honors for the second straight season. He started all 19 games for the Haverford offense. He scored seven goals and added four assists on the year. Two of his seven goals were game-winning efforts. Those game-winning goals come in back-to-back 2-0 victories against Stockton and McDaniel. The senior currently ranks 14th in program history with 28 goals, eight of which have been game-winning efforts. He is one appearance short of tying the program record for games played in a career with 76 appearances heading into the NCAA Tournament.
Will Corkery led the Centennial Conference in assists for the second straight year as he currently has 12 on the season. Additionally, the midfielder has scored eight goals on the season. He recorded both of the game-winning goals in the Centennial Conference Tournament to earn Tournament MVP honors. He passed Yarosh for the conference lead in game-winning goals during the conference tournament as seven of his eight goals were game-winners. The junior ranks ninth in program history with 20 career assists. He has recorded a goal or assist in 13 matches to date.
Colin Seitz represented the Haverford defense as a first-team All-Centennial Conference performer. Since starting the program record 14 game winning streak, Haverford has conceded just seven goals. Three of those goals came in the 4-3 victory at Gettysburg. The team has recorded nine shutouts in its last 14 victories. Seitz also assisted on goals in the victory over then-No. 1 Franklin & Marshall and the Centennial Conference semifinal against Johns Hopkins.
Maclyn Willigan also represented the Haverford defense was his second-team All-Centennial Conference award. Willigan has appeared in 49 matches over his three seasons at Haverford. He has started all but one of those contests. In addition to helping out with the nine team shutouts, Willigan added goals in the shutout victories against Washington College and Rutgers-Camden.
Sam Miller was also recognized with an honorable mention accolade for his work in goal on the season. Miller has started and been the goalie of record in each game this season. Six of the team's nine shutouts have been solo efforts by the Fords' goalkeeper. In three other instances, the junior ceded the goal late in Haverford victories. His 16 wins in goal have tied the program record for a single season. He allowed less than one goal per game this season, stopping a career-best 68 shots in the process.
Tejan Walcott joined Miller as an honorable mention pick. Walcott added six goals and two assists to the Haverford offense this season. He scored the game-winning goal to help Haverford clinch home field advantage for the conference tournament against Ursinus. He also added goals against then-No. 1 Franklin & Marshall and Dickinson during the regular season, while tallying in the conference semifinals against Johns Hopkins.
Shane Rineer was named the conference's coach of the year by his peers. In addition to leading his team to the Centennial Conference Championship in two different seasons, Rineer's squad has appeared in four of the five Centennial Conference Championship matches after not making the Centennial playoffs in any season prior to his arrival. He has also finished with the best regular season record in the conference during the 2013 and 2015 seasons.
Men's soccer now look to impress on the national stage as the Fords are set to host an NCAA Tournament Second Round game this Sunday at 1 p.m. against the winner of Washington & Lee and Methodist. Haverford earned one of just three byes in the tournament with the No. 1 seed in its pod.