Bagrou Named Player of the Year, Seven Bears Earn All-SoCon Honors

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Mercer forward Will Bagrou was named the Southern Conference Player of the Year, leading a group of seven Bears to earn All-SoCon honors Tuesday morning, as announced by the league offices.

Bagrou was joined by midfielders Jordan Duru and Conner Antley and defender Ian Antley as All-SoCon First Team honorees, tying Mercer with ETSU for the most players named to this year's first team. Goalkeeper Jeremy Booth earned All-SoCon Second Team honors while midfielders Roberto Arteaga and Jacob Chadwell were named to the SoCon All-Freshman Team.

The Bears' five first and second team selections are the second most behind ETSU's seven.

Bagrou becomes the first Mercer player to be named SoCon Player of the Year and fourth to earn a player of the year honor in school history, joining Vince Dattilo (1992), Max Rooke (2001) and Ramiro Canovas (2002), all of which were named Atlantic Sun Player of the Year.

"I'm very proud of Will," said head men's soccer coach Brad Ruzzo. "I believe this year has been his best because of the different skills he's developed within his game. He's a big reason why we've won 37 games in three years – you need a guy who can score goals. It's one of the hardest things to do in our sport, and he can do it in many different ways.

In only three years since joining the SoCon, Mercer has earned every postseason superlative: Coach of the Year (Brad Ruzzo, 2014), Goalie of the Year (Greg Ranjitsingh, 2014), Freshman of the Year (Bagrou, 2014) and now Player of the Year. Only ETSU has done the same; the Bucs' Bo Oshoniyi, Jonny Sutherland and Joe Pickering collected the other three postseason awards this season. Additionally, Mercer's overall win percentage (.653) and SoCon win percentage (.700) are tops in the league since joining the SoCon.

"This is a true credit to our players for continuing to develop and embrace the challenges of playing in as difficult of a league as the SoCon over the last three years," Ruzzo said. "They've worked really hard to stay at a high level and the results have been apparent with where we've finished in the conference standings each year."

Bagrou, a three-time All-SoCon First Team selection, is tied for second in points (20) and tied for third in goals (8) among SoCon players this season. He has proved to be one of the conference's most dynamic players with 63 career points, making him the active career leader. The former SoCon Freshman of the Year (2014) ranks within the top-60 nationally in total goals (58th) and total points (60th) as well.

Duru, another three-time All-SoCon First Team selection, has served as the glue for a stout Mercer midfield with 10 points (four goals, two assists) while being tied for the conference lead with three game-winning goals. The senior captain earned Mercer's lone Player of the Week honor this season on Oct. 25.

Conner Antley had a breakout junior campaign with a career-best 13 points (four goals, five assists) to earn his first All-SoCon First Team selection. The midfielder/defender ranked second on the team and was tied for seventh in the conference in points after being named to the league's second team a season ago.

As the anchor of a Mercer defense that's limited opponents to an impressive 1.04 goals against average, Ian Antley earned his second consecutive All-SoCon First Team nod. The captain netted his only goal of the season in Mercer's most important match against ETSU on Oct. 29, scoring in two minutes and 24 seconds. It's the senior's third SoCon honor overall, as he was named to the All-SoCon Second Team as a sophomore in 2014.

All four first-team selections have started all 18 games for Mercer this season.

In his second year as Mercer's starting goalkeeper, Booth established himself as one of the conference's top keepers en route to the second team honor. He started all but one match, going 11-6 while allowing a goals against average of 1.11 and logging four shutouts. The redshirt junior logged four or more saves in six matches.

Chadwell and Arteaga both earned starting roles toward the end of the season and enter the SoCon Tournament with 10 and five starts, respectively. Chadwell assisted on Mercer's opening goal in a 3-1 victory at Wofford on Oct. 18 while Arteaga totaled four points on a goal and two assists. His goal proved to be one of the biggest of the season for Mercer – a game-winner in a 1-0 victory at Furman in the penultimate regular season match.

"These selections are testaments to these seven guys' hard work," Ruzzo said. "Each one has his own individual story. This is certainly important for our two senior captains in Ian Antley and Jordan Duru, who went through a tough season as freshmen and have stuck with the program, bought into it and reaped the benefits ever since."

UP NEXT
The Bears (12-6, 7-3) return to play Thursday following an 11-day layoff when they face third-seeded Wofford (12-6, 6-4) in the SoCon Tournament semifinals at 6 p.m. in Greensboro, North Carolina. Mercer had a first-round bye as the tournament's No. 2 seed. Wofford advanced to the semifinal round with a 3-1 victory over No. 6 VMI in Spartanburg on Nov. 5.

The match will be streamed live on the SoCon Digital Network.

FOLLOW THE BEARS
For complete coverage of Mercer Men's Soccer, please follow the Bears on social media at @Mercer_MSoccer (Twitter) and /MercerMSoccer (Facebook) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.

2016 MEN'S SOCCER ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM

Player of the Year – Will Bagrou, Jr., F, Mercer
Goalkeeper of the Year – Jonny Sutherland, So., ETSU
Coach of the Year – Bo Oshoniyi, ETSU
Freshman of the Year – Joe Pickering, D, ETSU

First Team
F                Fletcher Ekern, ETSU
F                Lewis Hawke, Furman
F                Will Bagrou, Mercer
F                Damieon Thomas, UNCG
MF             Serge Gomis, ETSU
MF             Leeroy Maguraushe, UNCG
MF             Jordan Duru, Mercer
D                Chase Clack, ETSU
D                Kyle McLagan, Furman
D                Ian Antley, Mercer
D                Conner Antley, Mercer
GK             Jonny Sutherland, ETSU

Second Team
F                Joao Ramalho, ETSU
F                Lucas Altman, Wofford
F                Matthew Aurednik, Wofford
MF             Charlie Machell, ETSU
MF             Marco Ortiz, Furman
MF             Connor Donohue, Wofford
D                Joe Pickering, ETSU
D                Eric Gunnarsson, UNCG
D                Kyle Nelson, Wofford
GK             Jeremy Booth, Mercer
GK             Joe Wichmann, Wofford

All-Freshman Team
Javier Alberto, ETSU
Joe Pickering, ETSU
Emery May, Furman
Roberto Arteaga, Mercer
Jacob Chadwell, Mercer
Casey Penland, UNCG
Lucas Altman, Wofford
Dredon Kelly, Wofford
Sam Ross, Wofford
Austin Tuggle, Wofford
Christian Womeldorph, Wofford

Bagrou Named Player of the Year, Seven Bears Earn All-SoCon Honors

Players Mentioned

Conner Antley

Ian Antley

Roberto Arteaga

Will Bagrou

Jeremy Booth

Jacob Chadwell

Jordan Duru

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