BENNINGTON, Vt. – Four members of the Southern Vermont College men’s soccer team have earned All-New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) laurels for the 2016 season as announced by the league on Tuesday, that marking the most the program has collected in a single year since the 2012 campaign.
Junior rookie Paddy McGovern (Cheshire, England) was selected to the All-NECC Second Team after a strong offensive performance throughout the season. Sophomore captain Kieran Enright (Perth, Australia) and freshman Jake Figueiredo (Wethersfield, Conn.) were both voted onto the All-NECC Third Team as defensive players.
“All of these awards really demonstrate how bright the future here is at Southern Vermont,” commented first-year SVC head coach Greg Gilmore ’12. “Jake and Paddy were both rookies, and Kieran was only a sophomore. Paddy was in-and-out of the top 10 nationally for scoring, and Kieran and Jake both did an excellent job on the defensive side of the ball.”
McGovern notched a Conference-leading 16 goals in 2016, nine of those coming in league contests for another mark that topped the NECC. That total tied for the third-most goals in Southern Vermont history for a single season while three of his scores were game winners. McGovern was named the Conference’s Player of the Week once during the year and reeled in the Rookie of the Week award twice.
“Paddy was willing to chase down any ball in the offensive half,” Gilmore noted of his junior rookie. “He really had to work for a lot of his goals… often creating a lot out of nothing.”
Enright and Figueiredo played extremely well in the defensive end of the pitch for Southern Vermont throughout the year, helping the Mountaineers chalk up a 2.04 goals against average versus NECC opponents. Enright scored one goal from the backfield while Figueiredo tallied a pair of assists in his first collegiate season.
“As a team, we had to really battle in the defensive half all year,” Gilmore added. “Jake and Kieran were at the center of that just about every game. I'm really looking forward to continuing to work with all of them as we look to get back towards the top of the NECC.”
Additionally, freshman Devin Furphy (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) was selected by the SVC head coach to represent Southern Vermont on the NECC All-sportsmanship Team.
“Devin worked hard all year and started every game,” Gilmore commented about his rookie midfielder. “He was a positive force on the field at all times.”
The league’s top awards and all-conference teams are determined by voting from each of the NECC coaches.
2016 NECC Men’s Soccer All-Conference Teams and Major Awards
Player of the Year: Donald Whittle, Elms (Jr., F, Somers, Conn.)
Rookie of the Year: Nilton De Andrade, Newbury (Fr., F, Boston, Mass.)
Goalkeeper of the Year: Cooper Hall, Daniel Webster (Jr., GK, Heber City, Utah)
Coach of the Year: Renato Capobianco, Regis
All-Conference First Team
Alex Carvajal, Daniel Webster (Sr., M, Medellin, Columbia)
Chasen Congreves, Daniel Webster (Sr., D, Essex Junction, Vt.)
Cooper Hall, Daniel Webster (Jr., GK, Heber City, Utah)
Michael Ottman, Daniel Webster (Sr., D, Kennebunkport, Maine)
CJ Dabkowski, Elms (Jr., M, Bristol, Conn.)
Donald Whittle, Elms (Jr., F, Somers, Conn.)
Anthony Vitta, Lesley (Jr., M, Oceanside, N.Y.)
Prince Boateng, Newbury (Sr., D, Worcester, Mass.)
Nilton De Andrade, Newbury (Fr., F, Boston, Mass.)
Emiky Pires, Regis (Jr., D, Boston, Mass.)
Litchie Barbosa, Regis (So., M, Boston, Mass.)
All-Conference Second Team
Colby Macdonald, Elms (So., D, Bristol, Conn.)
Billy Baker, Lesley (Sr., D, Sacramento, Calif.)
William Ferguson, Mitchell (Fr., D, Old Lyme, Conn.)
Andrew Nigro, Mitchell (Sr., F, East Granby, Conn.)
Seth Strader, Mitchell (Fr., GK, Preston, Conn.)
Greg Brooks, Newbury (Sr., D, Amityville, N.Y.)
Alex Davis, Newbury (Sr., M, Gloucester, Mass.)
Estevao Gomes, Newbury (Fr., M, Boston, Mass.)
Derek Triana, Regis (So., M/F, Port St. Lucie, Fla.)
David Venegas, Regis (Jr., M, Escondido, Calif.)
Paddy McGovern, Southern Vermont (Jr., F, Cheshire, England)
All-Conference Third Team
Matheus De Farias, Daniel Webster (So., M/F, Lowell, Mass.)
Kevin Herrara, Daniel Webster (Fr., M/F, Metapan, El Salvador)
Eusebio Marote, Daniel Webster (Sr., M, Lowell, Mass.)
Nuno Pereira, Lesley (Jr., F/M, Sao Filipe Fogo, Cape Verde)
Harrison Sidell, Lesley (Sr., M, Newhall, Calif.)
TJ Condon, Mitchell (So., M, North Stonington, Conn.)
Zavier Veliz, Mitchell (Jr., D, New Longdon, Conn.)
Manny Santiago, Regis (Sr., GK, Bristol, Conn.)
Colin Thurston, Regis (Jr., D, Temecula, Calif.)
Kieran Enright, Southern Vermont (So., D/M, Perth, Australia)
Jake Figueiredo, Southern Vermont (Fr., D/M, Wethersfield, Conn.)
All-sportsmanship Team
William Tripp, Becker (Sr., M, Aberdeen, Md.)
Jon Fitzpatrick, Daniel Webster (Jr., D, Billerica, Mass.)
Donald Whittle, Elms (Jr., F, Somers, Conn.)
Enzo Bertolotti, Lesley (So., M/F, New York, N.Y.)
Andrew Nigro, Mitchell (Sr., F, East Granby, Conn.)
Michael J. Walker, Newbury (Jr., D/M, Fredriksted, St. Croix, USVI)
Derek Triana, Regis (So., M/F, Port St. Lucie, Fla.)
Devin Furphy, Southern Vermont (Fr., D/M, Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.)
Cristian Lemus, Wheelock (Fr., D, Medford, Mass.)
– #LetsGoSVC –