Bottenburg, Torrijos, Cunningham Take Home Men’s Soccer All-Conference Honors

IRVING, Texas – Three standout University of Tulsa men's soccer players were named to year-end American Athletic Conference awards, including first team all-conference choice Wes Bottenburg, second team all-conference honoree Alvaro Torrijos and unanimous all-freshman selection Alex Cunningham, announced by the conference Thursday and voted on by the league's coaches.

Bottenburg, a junior from Utrecht, The Netherlands, won his second career year-end award from The American after being selected to the all-freshman team (then all-rookie team) in 2022. He started in 13 of 14 games this season for the Golden Hurricane. He came away with two goals this year as a defender, earning one in the season-opening home loss to No. 15 Louisville and the other in the 2-1 road winner over South Florida, earning a spot on the AAC Weekly Honorable Mention list the following Monday.

From Valencia, Spain, Torrijos completed his fifth and final year with the Hurricane as a graduate student. A two-time AAC All-Tournament Team player in the 2020-21 and the 2021 season, Torrijos finished 2024 with five points resulting from one goal and three assists across 13 of 13 starts. He was one of three players to earn a goal in the 3-2 home victory over Cal Poly. Then in the conference season, Torrijos assisted goals in the 2-1 winner over Florida Atlantic in the Hurricane Soccer Stadium, the 1-1 draw at UAB and the 2-1 upset at South Florida, helping to put Tulsa in a position to fight for a spot in The American Championship. He finished the year tied ninth in the AAC with three assists and 0.23 assists per game.

Cunningham, a true freshman defender from Springfield, Mo., was one of eight unanimous decisions for all-freshman honors. He started and played in all 15 games for the Hurricane and often spent the full 90 minutes on the field. Cunningham was named The American Freshman of the Week on Oct. 14 after helping Tulsa's defense hold Central Arkansas and UAB to just two combined goals while recording his first career goal in the 1-1 draw against UCA. For his efforts, Cunningham is ranked the No. 78 freshman in the country by Top Drawer Soccer.

Offensive Player of the Year
Mamadou Diarra, Sr., F, Florida Atlantic

Defensive Player of the Year
Jackson Kim, Gr., D, Memphis

Midfielders of the Year
Lleyton Imparato, Jr., M, Memphis
Pedro Faife, So., M, South Florida

Goalkeeper of the Year
Filip Sabatti, Jr., GK, Memphis

Freshmen of the Year
Mathis Ricter, D, UAB
David Houja, D, FIU

Coaching Staff of the Year
Memphis*
Richard Mulrooney, Tony McManus, Kevin Tello, Remco de Jong

Team Fair Play Award
Memphis Tigers

First Team All-Conference
Ian Pilcher, Sr., D, Charlotte*
Riyon Tori, Sr., M, Charlotte
Lleyton Imparato, Jr., M, Memphis
Jackson Kim, Gr., D, Memphis*
Filip Sabatti, Jr., GK, Memphis
Mamadou Diarra, Sr., F, Florida Atlantic
Noah Kvifte, Sr., F, Florida Atlantic
Aboubacar Traore, Jr., M, Florida Atlantic
Bernardo Dos Santos Montiero, Sr., F, FIU
Pedro Faife, So., M, South Florida
Wes Bottenburg, Jr. D, Tulsa
*denotes unanimous selection

Second Team All-Conference
Tony Kim, So., F, UAB
Leo Stritter, Jr., GK, Charlotte
Lucho Galizzi, 5^th, F, Memphis
Logan Longo, Gr., D, Memphis
Callum Grogson, Jr., D, Florida Atlantic
Sebastian Zettl, Jr., M, Florida Atlantic
Jalen Anderson, Gr., F, South Florida
Issah Hamidu, So., D, South Florida
Gunnar Studenhofft, Sr., F, South Florida
Kemali Green, Gr., D, Temple
Alvaro Torrijos, Gr., M, Tulsa

All-Freshman Team
Ole Jessen, D, UAB*
Mathis Richter, D, UAB*
Jaedon Richardson, F, Charlotte*
Kasper Heerfordt, D, Florida Atlantic*
David Houja, D, FIU*
Ryan Ruguaru, D, Memphis*
Marcelo Mondragon, D, South Florida*
Edgar Bazan, M, Temple
Nathan Brown, F, Temple
Charlie Votel, F, Temple
Alex Cunningham, D, Tulsa*
*denotes unanimous selection

Bottenburg, Torrijos, Cunningham Take Home Men’s Soccer All-Conference Honors

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Players Mentioned

Wes Bottenburg

Alex Cunningham

Alvaro Torrijos

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