By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Toledo, Ohio---Matt Almester (St. John's Jesuit/Toledo, Ohio) headlined a group of five Owens Community College men's soccer players to be named All-Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC).
Almester, who was named First Team All-OCCAC, was named the OCCAC's Co-Midfielder of the Year. The sophomore had eight goals and three assists in five conference games. This is the second straight year he has earned both honors, although he won the midfielder honor outright last year.
For the season, Almester has 22 goals and four assists.
Sophomore midfielder Trae Green (Blessed Pope John Paul II C.S.S./Scarborough, Ontario, Canada) also earned First Team All-OCCAC honors. He produced two goals and four assists in OCCAC play, and he has totaled two goals and six assists overall this year.
Maxwell Ejiogu (Beauchamps/Wickford, Essex, U.K.) was the third and final player to earn First Team All-OCCAC honors. He didn't have a point in OCCAC play, but has one goal and one assist overall. Most importantly, he has moved back to a bigger defensive role in the season's third game. Since then, the team has posted seven shutouts and had seven games in which the team has allowed just one goal.
Aside from those three, Reiss Liggitt (Seminole/Birmingham, England), a sophomore midfielder, and Hector Aguirre Jr. (Rossford/Rossford, Ohio), a freshman midfielder, were named Second Team All-OCCAC.
In conference play, Liggitt had three goals and three assists, while Aguirre Jr. had two goals. Overall, Liggitt has six goals and five assists, while Aguirre Jr. has three goals and eight assists.
Notes
Owens is 13-7-1 overall this year. They are 9-0-1 in the team's past 10 matches, which included a 4-1 win over Jackson College last night in the Region XII quarterfinals. The team will travel to Lakeland Community College this weekend for the Region XII Final Four, where they will take on Ancilla College at 12 p.m. in the semifinals on Saturday. The championship will be held on Sunday at 12 p.m.
In OCCAC play, Owens finished 4-2 and in second place behind 5-1 Cincinnati State. The champions received the league MVP (Mohamed Thiaw), the offensive player of the year (Thiaw) and the coach of the year (Mike Combs). Lakeland Community College's Alassane Diop was named defensive player of the year, while his teammate George Toe shared midfielder of the year honors with Almester.