Frostburg State Soccer Blog: Russell Grabs 2nd Straight Male Athlete of the Year Honors

The 2012 - 2013 Frostburg State Athletics Banquet was held Monday evening at the Bobcat Arena. Team awards were given out to Ryan Russell, Chris Jones, Pablo Torrano, and Scott Wasser, while Russell and the men's soccer team were honored by the athletic department.

Senior Ryan Russell was awarded with his second straight Male Athlete of the Year honor by the FSU athletics department. Russell has had a remarkable career here at FSU. In only two seasons of play for the Bobcats he will finish 10^th all-time in goals with 30, and points with 73. He is the two-time CAC Player of the Year; he earned ECAC South Offensive Player of the Year this season, and was a NSCAA All-South Atlantic 1^st team selection this year. Ryan led the CAC in goals and points the past two seasons and helped guide the men’s soccer team to two straight CAC semi-final and ECAC tournament appearances. Ryan was also selected as the team offensive MVP.

Junior Chris Jones was selected as the team’s defensive MVP. He was the leader of a backline that only had one regular season loss and allowed 1.28 goals per game. He also recorded 4 goals and 1 assist from his center back position. Chris was awarded for his hard work as an All-CAC 1st team member and a NSCAA All-South Atlantic 3^rd team recipient.

Pablo Torrano was selected as this year’s Bobcat award winner. The Bobcat award goes to the individual that has the work rate and attitude that exemplifies what a true FSU soccer player is all about. Pablo was third on the team in goals despite missing the middle of the season with a separated shoulder. He fought hard to get back on the pitch and played a significant role in the conference playoffs.

Scott Wasser is the 2012-13 recipient of the Gilbert Gray Memorial Award. The Gilbert Gray award goes to the player who puts his team first and has the desire for excellence in his intellectual and physical self.

The men’s soccer team was also the winner of the Comeback Team Performance at the banquet with our 5-4 OT thriller against Bethany College. Down 4-1 on the road at Bethany the men’s soccer team came back to win the game 5-4 in overtime. Going into the game FSU was without 4 starters including leading goal scorer Ryan Russell. After leading the game 1-0 just five minutes into the match FSU would go on to surrender 4 consecutive goals. With just under 18 minutes to go in the game the Bobcats would go on a tear and score 3 goals in under 10 minutes to tie the match and would score the game winner just 2 minutes into overtime for the sudden death victory.