IRVING, Texas – Tulsa redshirt freshman forward Alex Meinhard became the first rookie in American Athletic Conference men’s soccer history to capture the league’s offensive player of the year award, as voted on by the conference’s six head coaches. Meinhard, who added conference rookie of the year plaudits to his resume during the 2020 season, was joined by four additional student-athletes from UCF, SMU and Temple as major award winners announced by The American announced on Wednesday.
 
Temple senior defender Pierre Cayet became the first Owl to capture American Defensive Player of the Year honors, while UCF senior midfielder Yoni Sorokin and SMU junior midfielder Knut Ahlander were named American Midfielders of the Year. UCF senior goalkeeper Yannik Oettl became the first three-time American Goalkeeper of the Year by taking the award for the third straight season. Tulsa earned the first American Coaching Staff of the Year award for the Golden Hurricane since joining the conference in 2014, and UCF was recognized with the American Fair Play award as the team with the lowest combined accumulation of fouls and cautions during the 2020 season.
 
A total of 22 players from all six member institutions that compete in men’s soccer in The American brought home all-conference plaudits, with regular-season champion and American Men’s Soccer Championship host UCF notching six total nods (five on the first team). Meinhard, Cayet, Sorokin and UCF junior defender Yanis Leerman were each unanimous first-team selections. Three players from both Temple and Tulsa led the way on the American All-Rookie Team, with nine of the 11 players claiming unanimous all-rookie accolades.
 
Meinhard became the first Tulsa men’s soccer major award winner since Bradley Bourgeois was tabbed American Defensive Player of the Year and Juan Sanchez was the American Rookie of the Year in 2015. Meinhard paced The American with 15 points over eight matches played, tallying a conference-high seven goals, 0.88 goals per match and 1.88 points per match. He also led the way in the league with five match-winning goals. Meinhard concluded the regular season ranked at the top of NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer in match-winning goals and placed sixth in goals per match.
 
Cayet secured the first major individual player award for Temple since the Owls joined The American in 2013, keying a back line that registered a 1.42 goals against average in 10 starts during the regular season. Temple logged two team shutouts during the 2020 campaign on its way to claiming the third overall seed in the upcoming American Men’s Soccer Championship.
 
Sorokin earned a share of the conference’s top midfielder for the year award for the second straight season after tying for the UCF team lead with four goals in nine matches played. He also ranked in the conference top 10 at fourth in total goals, goals per match (0.44) and points per match (1.00), and sixth in total points (9). Ahlander closed his junior regular season with two assists over 10 starts, helping SMU rank third in The American with four team shutouts. The Mustangs also allowed the third-fewest goals (12) and goals per match (1.20) in the conference.
 
Oettl completed the unprecedented conference three-peat as top goalkeeper after a stellar senior season where he yielded just four goals on 42 shots on frame (.905 save percentage) with a league-high tying five clean sheets. Oettl owned the top save percentage and goals against average (0.49) in The American, ranking second with 38 total saves and 4.75 saves per start.
 
Tulsa head coach Tom McIntosh and his staff gathered in American Coaching Staff of the Year following one of the most dramatic turnarounds in conference history, improving upon an 0-6-1 (.071) finish in league play in 2019 with a 6-3-1 (.650) showing this season to lock up the second seed in the upcoming conference tournament. The Golden Hurricane became the first men’s soccer team in The American to rise from the bottom of the table to a top-two seed in one season since the conference was reconstituted in 2013.
 
2020 American Men’s Soccer Regular-Season Awards
 
Offensive Player of the Year
Alex Meinhard, R-Fr., F, Tulsa*
 
Defensive Player of the Year
Pierre Cayet, Sr., D, Temple*
 
Midfielders of the Year
Yoni Sorokin, Sr., M, UCF
Knut Ahlander, Jr., M, SMU
 
Goalkeeper of the Year
Yannik Oettl, Sr., GK, UCF
 
Rookie of the Year
Alex Meinhard, R-Fr., F, Tulsa
 
Coaching Staff of the Year
Tulsa
 
Team Fair Play Award
UCF
 
First Team All-Conference
GK – Yannik Oettl, Sr., UCF
F – Gino Vivi, So., UCF
F – Sean Karani, So., Temple
F – Alex Meinhard, R-Fr., Tulsa*
F – Skage Simonsen, Jr., SMU
M – Yoni Sorokin, Sr., UCF*
M – Josue Monge, Sr., USF
M – Knut Ahlander, Jr., SMU
D – Yanis Leerman, Jr., UCF*
D – Anderson Rosa, Fr., UCF
D – Pierre Cayet, Sr., Temple*
 
Second Team All-Conference
GK – Eoin Gawronski, R-Fr., Temple
F – Hattabiou Barry, Sr., UCF
F – Michael Chappelear, So., Memphis
D – Sal Mazzaferro, So., USF
F – Papa Ndoye, So., SMU
D – Brandon Terwege, Sr., SMU
M – Jalen Campbell, Jr., Temple
F – Mike Eijgendaal, So., Temple
M – Chase Bromstedt, Sr., Tulsa
D – Mariano Fazio, Jr., Tulsa
M – Henry Sach, Jr., Tulsa
 
All-Rookie Team
F – Lucca Dourado, Fr., UCF
M – Andrew Lizyness, R-Fr., UCF*
D – Anderson Rosa, Fr., UCF*
F – Oscar Resano, Fr., USF*
M – Brian Schaefer, Fr., USF*
M – Harvey Castro, Fr., SMU*
GK – Cole Johnson, Fr., SMU
GK – Eoin Gawronski, R-Fr., Temple*
F – Nigel Griffith, Fr., Temple*
F – Malik Henry-Scott, Fr., Tulsa*
F – Alex Meinhard, R-Fr., Tulsa*
 
*denotes unanimous selection