Harrison Named ACC Offensive Player and Freshman of the Year
11/10/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
By Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeMSoccer)
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Seven players and Wake Forest head men's soccer coach Bobby Muuss were honored Tuesday with the release of the ACC All-Conference awards.
Harrison, in the midst of a historic freshman season, was named Offensive Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year, marking the first time a player has accomplished the feat in ACC history. He was also named a First Team All-ACC honoree and was joined by junior midfielders Ian Harkes and Jacori Hayes. Senior forward Michael Gamble and redshirt-junior goalkeeper Alec Ferrell were both named Second Team All-ACC honorees while sophomore forward Jon Bakero was named Third Team All-ACC. Brad Dunwell joined Harrison on the All-ACC Freshman Team while Muuss picked up Coach of the Year.
With eight goals and 11 assists this year, Harrison leads top-ranked Wake Forest with 27 points and has set numerous records already just one game into postseason play. The freshman from Bolton, England, is tied for sixth for assists in a single season and is already atop the freshman list for most assists in a season, passing Gary Kingsley's mark of 10 in the 1981 season. His 27 points are also a freshman record, breaking Rob Burt's mark from the inaugural 1980 campaign. Harrison is four points away from cracking the top 10 for points in a single season. In the larger scope, Harrison's 11 assists rank third nationally while his 0.61 assists per game and 1.5 points per contest are tops in the ACC. He has notched 12 points on four goals and four assists in his last six games, recording a point in each of those games and is the third Deac to be named Offensive Player of the Year, joining Corben Bone in 2009 and Scott Sealy in 2004. Overall, Wake Forest has now won seven Player of the Year awards with Jeremiah White earning the overall honor in 2003, Michael Parkhurst winning Defensive Player of the Year in 2004 and Ike Opara winning Defensive Player of the Year in both 2008 and 2009. Harrison is also the third Freshman of the Year in program history with Justin Moose in 2002 and Bone in 2007.
Muuss is the first Demon Deacon coach to win ACC Coach of the Year since Jay Vidovich earned the award in 2009. He is also the fourth coach in ACC history to take the award in his first season with the team, joining North Carolina's Anson Dorrance (1977) and Carlos Somoano (2011) and Virginia's George Gelnovatch (1996). Overall, the award marks the seventh Coach of the Year honor for Wake Forest men's soccer coaches. Muuss has led Wake Forest to a 15-1-2 record thus far this season and to a unanimous national No. 1 ranking after starting the campaign unranked. Additionally, Wake Forest has been atop the NCAA RPI rankings since the first release in late-September. Entering Wednesday's ACC Semifinals against Notre Dame, Wake Forest is riding a 12-game unbeaten streak, which is tied for the fifth-longest streak in program history. The honor is the second Coach of the Year award for Muuss, each coming in the last three years. He was also named Summit League Coach of the Year in 2013 after guiding Denver to a 13-3-4 record and 6-0-0 mark in league action.
Hayes has had a career-year for the Demon Deacons in 2015. Entering the season, he had scored two goals in his first two years with the Deacs. This season, he's notched five goals, all of which have been game-winners with the latest coming on Sunday in the ACC Quarterfinals against Louisville in overtime. This marks the first time Hayes has been named an All-ACC First Team performer. He was also named to the All-ACC Freshman Team in 2013.
Following up a 2014 campaign in which Harkes was named an All-ACC Second Team performer, the junior midfielder earned First Team honors this season after starting every game thus far for the Deacs. With two points on two assists this year, Harkes has been a stalwart at central midfield in helping Wake Forest earn 10 shutouts while posting the second-longest scoreless streak of 542 minutes from Sept. 26 against Clemson to Oct. 23 against Notre Dame.
Equally impressive on the defensive end, Ferrell has had a campaign for the record books with six shutouts in 14 games and has earned All-ACC honors for the first time in his career. Having only allowed nine goals this season, Ferrell has a record of 12-0-2 to go with a goals against average of 0.63, which sits 0.49 better than his previous career-best of 1.12 set in 2013. His save percentage of 0.845 ranks seventh nationally and is tied for first in the ACC with Clemson's Andrew Tarbell.
A second-team honoree this season, Gamble has now been named an All-ACC performer for the second year in a row after being named a first-team performer in 2014. Gamble led the Demon Deacons through the first month of the season with six goals, all coming in the first eight games of the year. After not scoring in the season-opening victory over Santa Clara, he scored in four-straight games and tallied game-winners against Florida Gulf Coast, Pittsburgh and then-No. 6 Akron. Though he's missed time this year due to injury, the senior captain proved to be one of the most dangerous attackers in the ACC throughout the season, changing game even when he wasn't scoring because of his on-field presence.
After a highly successful freshman campaign in 2014, Bakero avoided the sophomore slump in posting seven goals and six assists thus far for 20 points, which ranks second on the team behind Harrison. Having appeared in all 18 games, Bakero has scored game-winning goals against Notre Dame and Davidson this year after tallying four a season ago.
Joining Harrison on the All-ACC Freshman Team, Dunwell has started each of Wake Forest's 18 games and has scored one goal to go with five assists. His career as a Deac started in top-notch fashion with the Grand Rapids, Michigan, native tallying assists in three of the team's first four games, including each of Wake Forest's first two games.
The Demon Deacons edged Clemson with eight honorees overall on the four All-ACC teams to the Tigers' seven. North Carolina had five players earn All-ACC awards while Virginia had four.
Wake Forest looks for its first ACC Tournament championship since 1989 this week, starting with the ACC Semifinals on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at Spry Stadium against Notre Dame. The Irish enter the game ranked No. 8 in the nation and the No. 4-seed in the tournament.
2015 ACC Honors
Offensive Player of the Year - Jack Harrison, Fr., M, Wake Forest
Midfielder of the Year - Paul Clowes, Sr., M, Clemson
Defensive Player of the Year - Kyle Fisher, Sr., D, Clemson
Freshman of the Year - Jack Harrison, Fr., M, Wake Forest
Coach of the Year – Bobby Muuss, Wake Forest
2015 All-ACC Men's Soccer Team
First Team
Andrew Tarbell, Jr., GK, Clemson
Kyle Fisher, Sr., D, Clemson
Paul Clowes, Sr., M, Clemson
TJ Casner, Sr., F, Clemson
Zach Mathers, Sr., M, Duke
Tim Kubel, So., D, Louisville
Jonathan Campbell, Sr., D, North Carolina
Julian Buescher, So., M, Syracuse
Ian Harkes, Jr., M, Wake Forest
Jack Harrison, Fr., M, Wake Forest
Jacori Hayes, Jr., M, Wake Forest
Second Team
Zeiko Lewis, Jr., M, Boston College
Zach Knudson, So., M, NC State
Alan Winn, So., F, North Carolina
Omar Holness, Jr., F, North Carolina
Raby George, Sr., M, North Carolina
Max Lachowecki, Gr., D, Notre Dame
Patrick Hodan, Sr., M, Notre Dame
Jake Rozhansky, So., M, Virginia
Todd Wharton, Sr., M, Virginia
Alec Ferrell, Jr., GK, Wake Forest
Michael Gamble, Sr., M, Wake Forest
Third Team
Lennart Zeugner, So., D, Boston College
Iman Mafi, Jr., D, Clemson
Oliver Shannon, So., M, Clemson
Jeremy Ebobisse, So., F, Duke
Daniel Johnson, Jr., M, Louisville
Tucker Hume, Jr., F, North Carolina
Jon Gallagher, So., F, Notre Dame
Oyvind Alseth, Jr., M, Syracuse
Edward Opoku, Fr., F, Virginia
Jeff Caldwell, So., GK, Virginia
Jon Bakero, So., F, Wake Forest
All-Freshman Team
Simon Enstrom, Fr., F, Boston College
Patrick Bunk-Anderson, Fr., D, Clemson
Tate Schmitt, Fr., F, Louisville
Julius Duchsherer, Fr., M, NC State
Alex Comsia, Fr., D, North Carolina
Kamal Miller, Fr., D, Syracuse
Miles Robinson, Fr., D, Syracuse
Derrick Etienne, Fr., M, Virginia
Edward Opoku, Fr., F, Virginia
Brad Dunwell, Fr., M, Wake Forest
Jack Harrison, Fr., M, Wake Forest
