Honors Abound At Staples Soccer Banquet
Avery Mueller and Sam Rossoni won Staples sports’ biggest honors — Block “S” awards. Cormac Mulvey won Staples soccer’s great honor: #15. And Adam Syah was the recipient of a new award.
Those were highlights of last night’s annual banquet. A crowd of 200 saluted the Wreckers’ varsity, junior varsity and freshman teams.
Mueller — the high-scoring co-captain — earned his Block “S” as Most Valuable Player, in voting by his teammates. Head coach Russell Oost-Lievense also announced that Mueller was selected to United Soccer Coaches’ All-New England team. He is the 13th Staples boys soccer player so named since 1970, and the first since goalkeeper James Hickok in 2012.
Rossoni, a forward, was chosen by his teammates for the Block “S” Most Improved award. He appears to be the first junior ever to win the honor.
Each Staples sports team is limited to 2 Block “S” awards by the Staples athletic department, and can give them for whatever criteria they wish. Oost-Lievense created a new honor — the Coaches’ Award — to cite a player overlooked by others but whose value to the team is high. The first awardee is Adam Syah, a senior whose very solid defensive work did not draw the attention of opposing coaches, but whose worth to the Wreckers was iinestimable.
Mulvey, a junior defender, was handed the #15 jersey by its current wearer, Santi Alfageme. The number is worn in memory of Preston Hirten, a member of the 2006 state finalist team (and Oost-Lievense’s teammate) who died 3 years later, of a previously undiagnosed cardiac condition, on the first day of preseason training at the University of Mary Washington. Hirten’s intense work and dedication to the Staples program were an inspiration to his teammates and coaches.
JV coaches Jermaine Grey and Wilson Daniels, and freshman coach Chris O’Dell, also praised their teams last night.
Click here, then scroll down for a full list of Staples soccer awards and honors, through the years.
Santi Alfageme (left) and Cormac Mulvey, with a photo of Preston Hirten on the screen behind them.
