Louisville Men's Soccer Wins Major BIG EAST Awards
November 12, 2009 | Men's Soccer
Nov. 12, 2009
Morgantown, W.Va. - Senior Defender Phil Edginton and the Louisville coaching staff earned two of the BIG EAST major awards tonight at the annual men's soccer awards banquet in Morgantown, W.Va., on the eve of the 28th annual BIG EAST Men's Soccer Championship. Edginton was named Co-BIG EAST Defender of the Year and Ken Lolla and his staff were named BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year. Edginton was also named to the BIG EAST first team along with teammate Colin Rolfe. Both Edginton and Rolfe were unanimous selections. Freshman Paolo DelPiccolo rounded out the Louisville awards as a BIG EAST All-Rookie Team selection.
Edginton is the second Cardinal student-athlete to earn a major award since Louisville joined the league in 2005, and the first to win BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year honors. A unanimous selection to the 2009 All-BIG EAST First Team, Edginton earned third-team honors in 2007. The senior and the Cardinal defense have posted 12 shutouts through 18 games and allowed only 12 goals. In league play, Louisville gave up 10 goals and recorded seven blank sheets. Offensively, Edginton has six points on two goals and two assists. Named the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week three times (Sept. 21, Oct. 12 & Oct. 26), Edginton was also a two-time weekly honor roll selection (Sept. 14 & Oct. 5).
Lolla and his staff led Louisville to its first regular-season conference title and the No. 1 seed out of the Red Division in the BIG EAST Championship. Louisville holds an overall mark of 13-2-3 and ended BIG EAST regular-season play with an 8-2-1 record. This is the second time in three years Louisville has advanced to the BIG EAST Championship semifinals. The Cardinals set a school record with 13 wins, passing the record of 12 set in 1983 and 2000. Lolla has guided the Cardinals to double-digit wins in three of his four seasons at the helm. The Cardinals have been ranked in the national top 25 all season, and earned the program's highest ranking of No. 5 in the NSCAA/adidas poll in the ninth week of play. This is Louisville's first BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year honor, but Lolla won four MAC Coach of the Year honors at Akron before coming to UofL.
Rolfe was a preseason All-BIG EAST selection after earning Rookie of the Year honors last season. The sophomore leads the team in scoring with 10 goals and two assists for 22 points. He also leads the team with four game-winning goals. He earned BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week honors after scoring two goals against Indiana. He was also selected to the Soccer America and College Soccer News Team of the Week.
DelPiccolo was the only freshman to start every game for the Cardinals this season. He scored three goals this season, with two game-winners. He also has five assists on the season, including a career-high three assists against Villanova. He ranks fourth on the team in points with 11 on the year. He also ranks second in the BIG EAST in assists and assists per game.
*portions of this release were provided by the BIG EAST Conference
