Dec. 15, 2007

AMHERST, Mass. - UMass men's soccer keeper Zack Simmons was named to the NSCAA/adidas Third-Team All-American becoming the first Minuteman to earn such honors since 2002. After a record-breaking season in which Simmons set new school marks in career wins (32), career shutouts (23), career saves (302), and single-season goals-against-average (0.78), the native of Durham, N.H. helped the Minutemen to their first ever College Cup appearance.

Simmons is the first UMass soccer player to earn those honors since Jeff Deren in 2002. He is the first UMass keeper since Edward McGrath in 1948 to be recognized as an All-American. He is the 15th player in the program's 75-year history to earn All-America honors.

Earlier this year, he was named the Atlantic 10 Tournament MVP and earned spots on the A-10 All-Tournament Team, the A-10 All-Conference First-Team, was named the A-10 Men's Soccer Student-Athlete of the Year, and earned ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Second-Team honors.

Seven players whose teams advanced to the NCAA Division I Men's College Cup lead the selections to that division's 2007 NSCAA/adidas All-America team.

Wake Forest, which spent a portion of the 2007 season ranked No. 1 in the NSCAA/adidas national poll, claimed the lion's share with three players on the squad: senior defender Pat Phelan (Enfield, Conn.), junior midfielder Sam Cronin (Winston-Salem, N.C.) and sophomore forward Cody Arnoux (Wilmington, N.C.).

Ohio State placed two on the first team with seniors Eric Bruner (Dublin, Ohio) at defender and Xavier Balc (Hudson, Ohio) at forward. Junior forward Patrick Nyarko (Virginia Tech/Kumasi, Ghana), a finalist for the 2007 Missouri Athletic Club's Hermann Trophy, and senior goalkeeper Zack Simmons (Massachusetts/Durham, N.H.) rounded out the College Cup septet.

Ohio State and Wake Forest weren't the only schools with two players named to the first team. Boston College had junior midfielders Reuben Ayarna (Accra, Ghana) and Alejandro Bedoya (Weston, Fla.) on the list, while Connecticut's two Hermann Trophy semifinalists, Julius James (Maloney Gardens, Trinidad) and O'Brian White (Scarborough, Ont.) also were on the first team. Both James and Andy Iro (UC Santa Barbara/Liverpool, England) earned honors for the third time.

Nyarko and White were joined by Joseph Lapira (Notre Dame/Lake Charles, La.) as the three finalists announced by the MAC for the 2007 Hermann Trophy, which will be presented in St. Louis on Jan. 11.

The complete team is listed below.

2007 NSCAA/adidas NCAA Men's Division I All-America Team
First Team
Pos., Name, Class, School, Hometown

K, Stefan Frei, So., California, Alamo, Calif.
D, Eric Brunner, Sr., Ohio State, Dublin, Ohio
D, Julius James **, Sr., Connecticut, Maloney Gardens, Trinidad
D, Pat Phelan, Sr., Wake Forest, Enfield, Conn.
M, Reuben Ayarna, Jr., Boston College, Accra, Ghana
M, Alejandro Bedoya, Jr., Boston College, Weston, Fla.
M, Andrew Jacobson, Sr., California, Palo Alto, Calif.
M, Peter Lowry, Sr., Santa Clara, Fair Oaks, Calif.
F, Xavier Balc, Sr., Ohio State, Hudson, Ohio
F, Joseph Lapira *, Sr., Notre Dame, Lake Charles, La.
F, Patrick Nyarko, Jr., Virginia Tech, Kumasi, Ghana
F, O'Brian White, Jr., Connecticut, Scarborough, Ont.

Second Team
K, Billy Chiles, Sr., Towson, Silver Spring, Md.
D, Calum Angus, Jr., Saint Louis, Portsmouth, England
D, Andy Iro **, Sr., UC Santa Barbara, Liverpool, England
D, Jon Leathers, Sr., Furman, Athens, Ga.
D, Ryan Miller, Sr., Notre Dame, Barrington, Ill.
M, Sam Cronin, Jr., Wake Forest, Winston-Salem, N.C.
M, Bruno Guarda *, Jr., SMU, Piracicaba, Brazil
M, Brad Ring, Jr., Indiana, Rockford, Ill.
M, David Roth, Sr., Northwestern, St. Louis, Mo.
F, Andre Akpan, So., Harvard, Grand Prairie, Texas
F, Graciano Brito, Jr., Quinnipiac, Sao Nicolau, Cape Verde
F, Michael Fucito, Jr., Harvard, Westford, Mass.
F, Mike Grella, Jr., Duke, Glen Cove, N.Y.

Third Team
K, Zack Simmons, Sr., Massachusetts, Durham, N.H.
D, Chris Clements, Jr., Tulsa, Allen, Texas
D, Joe Donoho, Sr., Bradley, Tampa, Fla.
D, Omar Gonzalez, So., Maryland, Dallas, Texas
M, Pavle Dundjer, Sr., Illinois-Chicago, Belgrade, Serbia
M, Stephen King, Sr., Maryland, Medford, N.J.
M, Shea Salinas, Sr., Furman, Grapevine, Texas
M, Michael Videira, Sr., Duke, Milford, Mass.
M, Andy Wright, Sr., West Virginia, Liverpool, England
F, Cody Arnoux, So., Wake Forest, Wilmington, N.C.
F, Michael Ferguson, So., Loyola (Ill.), Overland Park, Kan.
F, George Josten, Sr., Gonzaga, Idaho Falls, Idaho
F, Sherron Manswell, Sr., Boston College, Maracas, Trinidad

* indicates prior selection