2018 All-GLIAC Men's Soccer Awards Announced

2018 GLIAC MEN'S SOCCER TOURNAMENT CENTRAL

GLIAC – The 2018 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Men's Soccer awards have been announced after voting conducted by the league's coaches. The awards were presented at a banquet on the campus of Saginaw Valley State University on Thursday night prior to the start of the 2018 GLIAC Men's Soccer Tournament semifinals.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Parkside junior forward Leki Prpa has started and played all 16 games for the Rangers thus far. He leads the team in goals (7), assists (9), points (23) and game winners (3). Prpa has played 1466 minutes this year for the Rangers. Prpa has been a regular starter for th Rangers since his freshman season. He started 14 games in  2016 and 16 games last year. Prpa helped Parkside take the number two seed for their first year in the GLIAC, with 9-6-1. The Rangers beat two ranked teams this year along wtih one team receiving votes and they were ranked in the Midwest Regional Poll as well.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Saginaw Valley senior Omar Sinclair helped anchor an SVSU defense that led the league with a 0.62 goals against average, allowing only 11 goals total this season. The Cardinals racked-up seven clean sheets in the 2018 regular season while securing the program's fourth GLIAC title and second in the past three years. 

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Saginaw Valley goalkeeper Lukas Betz ranked first in the GLIAC with his six shutouts, 10 goals against and 0.64 goals against average while ranking second in the league with eight victories on the season. Betz helped anchor the SVSU defense while the team posted seven shutouts on the year, winning the program's fourth GLIAC championship. 

GOALKEEPER OF THE YEAR
Ashland University sophomore Dimitrios Karousos has started the last 11 conference games this season, including Tuesday's 1-0 win over Purdue Northwest in the GLIAC Tournament first round. His presence at the back has greatly improved the back line as he carries a 1.03 goals against average, a mark that ranks second in the GLIAC. He leads the conference in save percentage (85.4) by a significant amount and has made 70 saves on the season. Karousos has kept three clean sheets and has made a season-high nine saves on three occasions. He stopped nine shots in a 2-0 win against Northwood on Sept. 30, and after Saginaw Valley took a 2-0 lead in the first 10 minutes on Oct. 26, he made nine saves to give AU a chance to draw the Cardinals, 2-2. Karousos is the first GLIAC Goalkeeper of the Year in program history. He is also the first AU player on the All-GLIAC first team since 2011 (the program was on hiatus from 2013-15). 

COACH OF THE YEAR
Purdue Northwest's Ryan Hayes earned the first-ever GLIAC Head Coach of the Year honor in PNW history with his efforts leading the Pride this season. Hayes guided PNW to a 9-7-1 (7-5 GLIAC) overall record which was a four-win improvement overall in the GLIAC that gave PNW the 3-seed in the postseason tournament. The four-year head coach of the Pride also helped lead an offensive attack that doubled its scoring output from last season.

A complete list of the 2018 All-GLIAC men's soccer teams is below: