April 26, 2010
WASHINGTON - The Georgetown University men's soccer team held its annual banquet on Saturday at McDonough Arena. The squad gave out its three major awards and recognized both team and individual successes throughout the season. Georgetown finished the year with a record of 9-9-1 and earned the fourth seed in the BIG EAST's Blue Division.
After remarks from Head Coach Brian Wiese as well as Assistant Coaches Zach Samol and Josh Shapiro, the major award winners of the evening were unveiled.
Volunteer Assistant Coach Brian Foote presented the Most Valuable Player Award to senior defender Len Coleman (Basking Ridge, N.J./Pingry School). He started all 18 games this season and led a defense that posted eight shutouts. Coleman has been a full-time starter in his time on the Hilltop starting in 68 of 70 career games played. This year he earned a nod to the TopDrawerSoccer.com Team of the Week and was named the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week.
The Most Improved Player Award went to junior forward Jose Colchao (Fairfax, Va./Lake Braddock Secondary School) and was presented by Georgetown alum Ricky Schramm. Colchao led the Hoyas in scoring this season with four goals and five assists to his credit for 13 points. Prior to this season, the forward had scored just one career goal and tallied no assists. Colchao started in all 19 games this season.
The Ricardo Mendoza Award, given to the player who exhibits spirit, leadership and dedication, was presented by Georgetown alum Dan Helfrich, who won the honor in 1997, to senior Mark Zeman (Western Springs, Ill./Lyons Township). The two-time captain started in all 18 games he played in and had two assists for the season. In his career, he has seven assists and has started all but three games.
The coaches also honored junior Alex Verdi (Ivyland, Pa./Germantown Academy) for winning Academic All-District as well as classmate Mark Wilber (Tijeras, N.M./Albuquerque Academy) for earning ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America honors.
Concluding the event was the playing of the 2009 highlight video. The banquet closed out spring training and the Hoyas will open camp in August, 2010.
