LHU men’s soccer takes home PSAC East Player, Rookie and Coach of the Year honors
LOCK HAVEN, PA – The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) on Thursday released its All-Conference teams along with the major-award winners and the Bald Eagles brought home the hardware.
Beckham Sibiski (Kutztown, Pa./Kutztown H.S.) earned the Eastern Division Athlete of the Year, and Samuel Hershey (Lancaster, Pa./McCaskey) brought home Eastern Division Rookie of the Year honors for his breakthrough freshman season.
Head coach Patrick Long was voted the Eastern Division Coach of the Year after leading the Bald Eagles to the Eastern Division regular season title. The Haven’s 13 wins are the most since 2007. For Long, a Central Mountain High School and LHU graduate, it marks his first Coach of the Year award since his hiring in 2016.
LHU landed a staggering total of seven players across the All-Conference teams. Four Bald Eagles earned first-team honors and three more were named to the Second-Team.
Sibiski, who made his second All-Conference appearance after Second-Team honors in 2018, and Hershey were joined on the First-Team by defender Chase Tackett (Bethlehem, Pa./Liberty) and midfielder Andrea DiSomma (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Twp.).
The trio of second-team Bald Eagles include defender Dean Lewis (Belfast, Northern Ireland/Model Boys School), midfielder Colton Swanson (Bradford, Pa./Bradford) and goalkeeper Aitor Ruiz de Eguilaz (Euskadi, Spain/Koldo Mitxelena (Robert Morris)).
Sibiski’s playmaking has been on full display all year long as he leads the conference and is third in all of Division II in assists with 12. The midfielder has also scored seven goals which ranks him seventh in the PSAC. His mark of 26 points is also third-best in the conference.
Hershey leads the Bald Eagles and is second in the PSAC in goals with 13, and has also handed out eight assists, which is fourth-best in the conference. The freshman leads the Bald Eagles and is second in the conference with 34 points.
Tackett has been a driving force on The Haven backline which ranks fifth in the conference with 21 goals allowed. The senior consistently shuts down the opposing attacks and commands the LHU defense that allows just 9.9 shots per game, and only 4.9 on goal.
DiSomma earned his second career first-team honors after racking up seven goals and two assists in 11 games played. The Bald Eagles playmaker has been dynamic on attack and provides a constant offensive threat.
Lewis has been a stalwart on the outside of the LHU defense and has provided an option offensively as well and has totaled five points on two goals and one assist. The freshman defender’s stout defending contributed heavily to the fifth-ranked Bald Eagles defense.
In goal, Ruiz de Eguilaz has been named the PSAC Defensive Athlete of the Week three times and ranks among the leaders in the conference in save percentage (4th) and total save (5th). The junior has been huge between the posts for LHU and consistently makes crucial late-game saves.
Swanson has been a constant in the lineup for the Bald Eagles, and his creative abilities carve out chance after chance for LHU down the wing. The freshman midfielder has scored twice this season and provided four assists for eight total points.
On Friday the Bald Eagles will take on Gannon in the PSAC semifinals which are hosted by Mercyhurst University. The Bald Eagles and the Golden Knights are scheduled for a 4:30 p.m. kickoff.
