PHOTO GALLERY
West Hartford, CT – The University of Hartford men's and women's soccer teams celebrated their 2009 seasons at the annual Soccer Excellence Banquet on February 13 at the Hartford Golf Club.
The Soccer Excellence Banquet allows for the men's and women's soccer teams to honor their graduating seniors, a class of 11 in 2010 between both teams. The women's team will lose three players to graduation this May; Becky Flowers, Laura Guigli and Rachel Richards. The men's team will have eight members of the 2009 team graduate; Andreas Blamo, Nenad Cudic, Ivan Guarin, Kevin Hall, Vernon Perinchief, Cedomir Tomcic, Carlos Villa and Howard Wong.
The Soccer Excellence Fund was originally created in 2000 with the goal of promoting the pursuit of excellence in Hartford soccer in the areas of academics, citizenship and sport performance. Each year at the Soccer Excellence banquet four awards are presented, each representing one of the three areas.
The Soccer Excellence Scholar Athlete Award is presented annually to the member of the men's and women's soccer team who has the highest combined grade point average of the previous fall and spring semesters. This year Becky Flowers and Nenad Cudic earned this distinction. Flowers is a senior graduating with a degree in entrepreneurial studies from the Barney School of Business. Cudic will graduate in May with a degree in economics and finance, also from the Barney School of Business.
The Soccer Excellence Citizenship Award is presented annually to one male and one female who has demonstrated active participation in community service projects either on campus or in the community. The 2010 citizenship honorees were Kevin Hall and Lauren Brodeur.
Hall received the citizenship honor for the second-straight season. He has been a loyal member of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee and has participated in numerous community service activities including Read Across America and raising funds for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, among others. Brodeur joined the SAAC this past fall and was instrumental in developing and managing the first ever Howie Sportsmanship Academy in October.
The final Soccer Excellence awards are the Most Improved Award and the Most Valuable Award. Both are presented annually to the male and female that best demonstrates the qualities of most improved and most valuable. The most improved award is voted on by the coaching staffs, while the most valuable honor is voted on by a combination of the players and coaches.
The 2010 Soccer Excellence Most Improved honors were presented to juniors Bojan Delibasic and Michelle Babin. The Soccer Excellence Most Valuable Honors were presented to Becky Flowers and Cedomir Tomcic.
The men's soccer team closed out the 2009 regular season ranked third in the conference standings while earning a berth in the America East Championship for the third-straight season. Following a 2-1 defeat of Boston University in the quarterfinals, the Hawks fell to Stony Brook in a penalty kick shootout in the semifinals of the America East Championship. The Hawks finished with an overall record of 8-7-3, including a 4-2-1 mark in the America East.
The women's soccer team closed out the 2009 season with a 6-10-2 overall record and a 2-5-1 mark in conference play, finishing in seventh place in the America East. Two women's soccer players received all-conference honors with Flowers named to the First Team and freshman Caitlin Alves earning All-Rookie honors.
