La Salle's Richter named A-10 Soccer Player of the Year

PHILADELPHIA - La Salle senior forward Ryan Richter was named Offensive Player and Student-Athlete of the Year to lead a plethora of Atlantic 10 honors for the Explorers, announced by the league office on Wednesday afternoon.

Head Coach Pat Farrell, who guided his team to the No. 2 seed in the Atlantic 10 Championship, was the league's pick for Coach of the Year. Two Explorer rookies - John McCarthy and Jidell Roach - picked up All-Rookie accolades. In addition, Dan Korenyi was named Second Team All-Conference, Jeff Pio earned honorable mention, and two student-athletes - Richter and Nick Dundon - were tabbed Academic All-Conference.

The league honors cap a terrific year for the Explorers, who finished 6-2-1 in league play to wrap up the number two spot. The team went unbeaten in its final six games, putting together a 5-0-1 record to close out the regular season.

Richter (Southampton, PA/William Tennent) led the offensive charge, netting 14 goals and a total of 30 points to lead both the Atlantic 10 and the Soccer Six. In total, he leads the league in seven offensive categories: shots (89), shots per game (5.24), points (30), points per game (1.76), goals (14), goals per game (0.82) and game-winning goals (7). Three of his game-winning goals came in 1-0 Explorer wins, all over Atlantic 10 opponents.

Richter's 30 points so far this season ties him for sixth on La Salle's all-time list with Russ Bono (1982). His 14 goals this season ties him for seventh all-time in goals for a season (Georg Montag - 1990; Joe Rudy - 1984).

In the past two seasons, Richter has racked up 51 points on a total of 21 goals and nine assists. In total, Richter has 28 goals (5th all-time) and 13 assists (10th all-time) for 69 points (5th all-time).

He was also named Student-Athlete of the Year, reflecting not only his hard work on the field but in the classroom as well. The Accounting major boasts a 3.35 GPA and becomes just the third Atlantic 10 player to win both Player of the Year and Student-Athlete of the Year in the same season since the conference instituted a Student-Athlete of the Year in 1999. He joins Zack Simmons of Massachusetts (2008) and R.J. Kaszuba of Dayton (2000) to accomplish the feat. Richter was recently named to the CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District First Team, and is now eligible for the Academic All-America ballot.

Farrell was voted by his coaching colleagues as the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year. In his 23rd season at the helm of the La Salle men's soccer program, he guided his squad to second place in the league to better their preseason prediction of 12th. He earned Coach of the Year honors for the second time in the Atlantic 10 and third overall in his coaching career at La Salle, as he was the MCC Coach of the Year in 1994 and in the Atlantic 10 in 1996.

Korenyi (Cinnaminson, NJ/Cinnaminson) earned Second Team All-Conference honors after proving his versatility this season. He started the season at midfield before moving back to defense in the season's final six games. In those six games, he helped anchor the La Salle defense in a stretch that saw the team go 5-0-1 in league play and defend two 1-0 wins and a 1-1 double overtime tie. Korenyi has started all 55 possible games of his career and has two career goals as a defender/defensive midfielder.

Pio (Warminster, PA/William Tennent) followed up last year's Atlantic 10 All-Rookie and Soccer Six Co-Rookie of the Year selections with a spot on the all-conference honorable mention list. Pio directed the Explorer midfield and was a big force in the team's late-season push for the No. 2 spot. He scored the team's lone goal in a 1-1 double OT tie at UMass and assisted on Richter's game-winning goals against both Xavier and Dayton. For his career, he has four goals and five assists in 35 games played and has been a starter in every game he has appeared in since mid-September of his freshman year.
 
McCarthy (Cinnaminson, NJ/Northeast Catholic) and Roach (Willow Grove, PA/Abington) were recognized on the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie team for leading a productive group of Explorer freshmen. McCarthy, the league leader in save percentage (.849) went 8-3-3 in goal in his rookie campaign, including an 8-2-1 effort in the last 11 games. He is tied for second in the A-10 with Xavier's Justin Marshall with seven shutouts and is third in the league with 90 saves. McCarthy earned three Rookie of the Week nods for his play between the posts, as he helped defend four 1-0 wins on the season and registered his first career shutout in a scoreless double overtime tie at then-No. 5 Lehigh.
 
Roach tied with teammate Jason Plumhoff with 10 points in his rookie season on three goals and four assists. He earned Rookie of the Week honors following his four-point night in a 4-2 win at Rhode Island, where he scored a goal and assisted on two others, including the game-winner. He assisted on Plumhoff's game-winning goal in a 1-0 win at Richmond and earlier in the season, netted two goals in a 4-4 tie at Niagara. He also registered the helper on Richter's game-winning goal in a 2-0 win at George Washington.
 
Rounding out the league honors are Richter and Dundon (Horsham, PA/UW-Milwaukee) on the Academic All-Conference team. Dundon, who moved to defense from his usual midfield position in the third game of the season, boasts a 3.95 GPA in Biology. He was recently honored as a CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District First Team pick and, along with Richter, is eligible for the Academic All-America ballot. Dundon helped anchor the Explorers defense to seven shutouts including four 1-0 wins this season.