BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lafayette men's soccer head coach
Dennis Bohn has been named the Patriot League Coach of the Year and junior defender
Nick Hazel has been named the Patriot League Co-Defender of the Year, the league office announced Tuesday afternoon.
Hazel also landed on the First-Team All-Patriot League team along with junior forward
Marcos Kitromilides.
Senior forward Martin Sssessanga, sophomore midfielder
Hale Lombard and junior goalkeeper
Alex Sutton all earned second-team all-league nods, while senior defender
Andrew Venezia was named to the league's third-team.
This marks the first ever Coach of the Year nod for Bohn and the first time since 1998 that a Lafayette men's soccer head coach has received the league Coach of the Year honors. He is only the third Lafayette men's soccer head coach to ever receive the Coach of the Year honor.
He led the Leopards to an undefeated spring regular season, winning all six of the league games in a shortened spring season.
Hazel, named Co-Defensive Player of the Year with Navy's Matt Nocita, started in all six games for the Leopards this spring and anchored a defense that allowed just five goals over the six game spring season.
The junior is the first Leopard since 1996 to receive a Patriot League Defender of the Year nod.
Joining Hazel on the league first-team is Kitromilides. This is the junior's second all-league nod after being named to the league's second-team during the 2019 season. The Nicosia, Cyprus, native totaled one goal and one assist this spring, including a game-winning goal. He started in all six of the Leopards games this spring and totaled 11 shots.
Kitromilides and Hazel's first-team nods are the first time the Leopards have landed a student-athlete on the league's first-team since 2012 when Alec Golini and Brandon Turner were both first-team selections.
For second-team honorees Ssessanga, Lombard and Sutton, this marks all three of their first all-league honors.
Ssessanga started in all six games for the Leopards this spring, netting two goals on seven shots, three on goal, and including two game-winning goals. He earned a Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week nod on March 6, for his game-winning goal at Bucknell to give the Leopards a season-opening victory.
Lombard, also started in all six games for the Leopards this spring, totaled a team-high three goals and one assist off a team-leading 14 shots.
Sutton started all six regular-season games for the Leopards in goal, making 11 saves, holding a 0.83 goals against average, a 0.688 save percentage and recording two shutouts.
Rounding out the Leopards all-league selections is Venezia, who earned his first ever all-league team nod. The senior started in all six games for the Leopards this spring and totaled two assists on six shots, as a defender.
The Leopards capped off a perfect 6-0 spring regular season by earning the top seed in the North Division. They now turn their attention Patriot League postseason play as they are set to host Holy Cross on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Patriot League Tournament Semifinals.
