Five Tulsa Players Earn American Athletic Conference Honors
11/9/2022 10:08:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Tulsa's Mariano Fazio was named the American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year and Alex Lopez was tabbed as The American Goalkeeper of the Year, while Fazio, Lopez, Alex Meinhard and Henry Sach earned all-conference first team honors and Wes Bottenburg was selected to the all-Rookie team, as announced today by the league office.
This was the second-straight year that Fazio and Lopez were tabbed as Defensive and Goalkeeper of the Year by the league, as well as the third-straight time Meinhard earned first-team honors, and second time Fazio, Lopez and Sach picked up first team accolades.
Fazio, a senior from Sevilla, Spain, helped anchor the Tulsa defense, which allowed just 14 goals in the regular season and recorded seven clean sheets for a 1.00 goals-against average, all of which were the best in the league. He also recorded two goals and one assist for five points. For his efforts this season he was named to the Top Drawer Soccer Team of the Week, as The American Defensive Player of the Week, the TDS No. 6 National Player, was a United Soccer Coaches Defender to Watch and was tabbed to the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List.
A sophomore from Madrid, Spain, Lopez played 1,100 minutes in goal, recorded 38 saves and five shutouts for a 0.731 saves percentage, and allowed 14 goals for a 1.15 GAA. During the regular season he ranked first in shutouts, second in GAA and fourth in saves percentage among the league's best. Throughout the season, Lopez was named The American Goalkeeper of the Week and was selected to the United Soccer Coaches Goalkeepers to Watch list.
Meinhard, a junior forward from Tartu, Estonia, had team-bests of nine goals, five assists and 23 points this season. He attempted 33 shots, 20 of which were on goal, for a 60.6 shots-on-goal percentage. He ranked fourth in points, sixth in goals and 10th in assists in The American regular season rankings. Meinhard was named to the Top Drawer Soccer National Team of the Week twice, was selected as the TDS No. 2 National Player in the midseason rankings, was a United Soccer Coaches Player to Watch and was tabbed to the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List.
A senior midfielder from Benitachell, Spain, Sach recorded one goal and two assists for four points this season. He was named The American's Defensive Player of the Week and to the College Soccer News Team of the Week both once this season.
Bottenburg, a freshman from Utrecht, The Netherlands, was also very instrumental on TU's back line. He had two goals for four points, was named The American Defensive Player of the Week, and to both the College Soccer News and Top Drawer Soccer Teams of the Week.
Tulsa Honorees
Defensive Player of the Year
Mariano Fazio, Sr., D, Tulsa
Goalkeeper of the Year
Alex Lopez, So., GK, Tulsa
First Team All-Conference
Mariano Fazio, Sr., D, Tulsa
Alex Lopez, So., GK, Tulsa
Alex Meinhard, Jr., F, Tulsa
Henry Sach, Sr., M, Tulsa
All-Rookie Team
Wes Bottenburg, D, Tulsa*
Monday, September 02
Sunday, September 01
Wednesday, August 28
Saturday, September 23