March 26, 2010

The South Carolina men’s soccer team held its annual awards banquet earlier this week at the Clarion Hotel in downtown Columbia.

Senior defender Tyler Ruthven was voted by his teammates as the recipient of the John Johnson MVP Award and was also the recipient of the Bill Lauritzen Defensive MVP Award. Junior forward Sam Arthur was honored with the Brian Winstead Offensive MVP Award, while sophomore Stephen Morrisey and junior Evan O’Dell were co-winners of the Strength and Conditioning Award, which was selected by the Gamecock strength and conditioning staff.

The men’s soccer squad posted its highest grade point average on record in the fall semester of 3.484. For its classroom success, the team was recognized by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) with the organization’s academic award signifying a team GPA over 3.00.

Academic awards were also handed out by class with Ryan Goodwin (freshman), Hunter Howayeck (sophomore), Jimmy Maurer (junior) and Mario Burstein (senior) earning honors.

Conference USA awards, and Conference USA All-Academic Team certificates were also handed out at the event. (Those recipients listed below)

All-Conference USA
Sam Arthur (First Team)
Blake Brettschneider (Third Team)
Jimmy Maurer (Third Team)
Tyler Ruthven (First Team)

Conference USA All-Academic Team
Sam Arthur
Blake Brettschneider
Jimmy Maurer
Will Traynor

Sam Arthur (Second Team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American) and Jimmy Maurer (Third Team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American) were also recognized.