The Oglethorpe men's soccer team had an outstanding showing on the All-SAA teams and awards, released Tuesday by the conference office. Three Stormy Petrels earned awards, as senior defender Micah Akin took SAA Defensive Player of the Year, sophomore midfielder Topher Marshall snatched SAA Offensive Player of the Year, and Oglethorpe head coach Jon Akin won his third SAA Coach of the Year award. Meanwhile, junior defender Jordan Locke joined the above two players on the All-SAA First Team; senior midfielder Gustavo Martinez, junior goalkeeper Luke Whelan, junior defender Josh Hoeft, and freshman forward Gabe Alvarez earned spots on the All-SAA Second Team; and junior forward Devon Patterson joined freshman midfielder Andrew Grodhaus on the All-SAA Honorable Mention list.
Micah Akin has now earned All-SAA honors after all four seasons that he has played for the Petrels. This is the third time he has earned All-SAA First Team honors in his career and the first time he's taken an SAA award. Akin anchored a defense that led the SAA with just six goals allowed and a 0.78 goals against average (GAA) in conference play. He earned a spot on the SAA All-Tournament Team for his performance in the team's first-round victory over Hendrix on Oct. 29 and their semifinal defeat to eventual-champion Centre on Saturday. Akin's ability to organize the defense and neutralize opposing attacks has been a stamp on a career that began as an All-SAA Honorable Mention selection following his freshman campaign in 2013, a season which the Petrels ended as SAA champions, and ended with back-to-back SAA regular season titles. He earned SAA Defensive Player of the Week honors for his part in the team's 2-1 double-overtime victory over Centre on Sept. 24.
Marshall earns his second All-SAA First Team honor and his second SAA award in as many seasons after taking home the SAA Newcomer of the Year trophy for his work during the 2015 season. This year, he ranked in the top 10 of several categories including goals, points scored and shots on goal. He finished first in the league in total shots (72), fourth in shots on goal (26), tied for sixth in goals (7), and 10th in points (14). He also buried a pair of game-winning goals over the course of the season, including a golden goal in the 2-1 double-overtime victory over Centre. The other came in the team's 2-0 victory at Millsaps on Oct. 16, a win which clinched the Petrels' second consecutive SAA regular season crown.
Jon Akin earns his second consecutive SAA Coach of the Year nod, and his fifth overall conference coach of the year award dating back to the program's time in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC). He led his team to the SAA regular season title the past two seasons, including an undefeated 6-0-1 mark in league play this season. He took SAA honors in 2013 after leading his team to their second-ever conference championship. He won SCAC Coach of the Year accolades in 2011 (after the program's first conference championship) and 2004. Akin just completed his 14th season at the helm of the Oglethorpe men's soccer program and has compiled a 127-103-20 record in that time.
Locke takes All-SAA First Team honors for the second time in as many seasons, having joined Akin as an anchor in the center of the stout Oglethorpe defense over the past two seasons. He also tallied a pair of goals and an assist over three games back in early October, helping his team to early-season SAA wins over Sewanee, Rhodes and Hendrix. He earned SAA Defensive Player of the Week honors for his part in the Rhodes and Hendrix victories.
Martinez continued as the engine in the heart of the Oglethorpe midfield, despite missing a handful of games with injury in the middle of the season. This marks his fourth All-SAA honor, including All-SAA First Team nods in 2013 and 2015.
Whelan won the job as the team's starting goalkeeper in the second game of the season and never looked back. He finished fourth in the league with a 1.52 GAA and came in fifth with 45 saves. His four shutouts on the season placed him second in the league and his seven wins tied him for second.
Hoeft earns his first career All-SAA honor with his second-team nod. The Petrel fullback really came into his own over the course of the 2016 season and was an essential part of the Oglethorpe attack up the flanks. He recorded four assists on the year, putting him in a tie for sixth on the conference leaderboard. He scored the first goal of the game in the first round of the SAA playoffs against Hendrix on Oct. 29, starting a five-goal onslaught that moved the Petrels into the semifinal round.
Alvarez got his career off to a fine start in 2016 with his first-ever All-SAA nod. He finished in the league's top 10 in three key offensive categories: goals, assists and shots. He scored five goals, placing him in a tie for 10th in the conference, while passing out three assists, putting him in a tie for ninth. His 37 shots tied him for ninth in the conference, as well. He bagged a golden goal at Berry on Oct. 22 with less than two minutes remaining before the game would've been declared a tie, securing Oglethorpe's undefeated run through the conference slate.
Patterson finished in the top 15 in the league in goals scored despite missing the latter half of the season with an injury. He finished with four goals on the season, including one in his final game of the year, a 3-2 win over Rhodes.
Grodhaus served as the team's defensive midfielder and became a stalwart of the team's defensive unit as the season continued. He proved to be a big reason why the Petrels had the best defense in the league during SAA play.
"I'm very proud of all of our SAA honorees, and of our whole team this season," said head coach Jon Akin. "We accomplished a lot this year and we got outstanding year-long performances from a bunch of guys, as evidenced by the fact that we put nine on the All-SAA teams. The All-SAA teams signify the best in the conference over the course of the season as voted by the league's coaches, so it says a lot about our team that we put that many guys on the All-SAA teams and took three of the four possible postseason awards."
