Yale's Jac Gould Player of the Year
Princeton's Behncke Top Rookie

Princeton, N.J. - The 1998 All-Ivy League Men's Soccer Team as selected by the League's eight head coaches:

 

First Team

Offense - Jac Gould, Yale (Jr., F) Phoenix, Ariz. *

Offense - Armando Petruccelli, Harvard (Jr., M) Flushing, N.Y.

Offense - Phil Harris, Yale (Jr., F) Boise, Idaho

Offense - Hiro Suzuki, Yale (Jr., M) San Diego, Calif.

Offense - Richard Stimpson, Cornell (So., M/F) Cheshire, Eng.

Defense - Rino Matarazzo, Columbia (Sr., M) Fair Lawn, N.J.

Defense - Bobby Meyer, Dartmouth (Sr., B) Franklin Square, N.Y.

Defense - Lee Williams, Harvard (Sr., B) Kent, Eng.

Defense - Ryan Smith, Brown (Jr., M) Catonsville, Md.

Defense - Cory Gibbs, Brown (So., D) Plantation, Fla.

Defense - Chris Halupka, Princeton (Sr., D/M) Clifton, N.J.

Goalie - Matt Cross, Brown (So.) Arlington, Texas
* = Unanimous selection

 

Second Team

Offense - Matt Behncke, Princeton (Fr., F/M) Williamsburg, Va.

Offense - Anders Kelto, Brown (Jr., M) Williamsburg, Mich.

Offense - Will Hench, Harvard (Jr., F) Marblehead, Mass.

Offense - Chris Pedrick, Dartmouth (Sr., M) Somerset, Eng.

Offense - Chris Dedicik, Dartmouth (Sr., F) Montreal, Que.

Defense - Brendan Reidy, Dartmouth (Sr., B) Oyster Bay, N.Y.

Defense - John Devine, Brown (Jr., D) Chalfont, Pa.

Defense - Sean McKenna, Cornell (Sr., B) Tampa, Fla.

Defense - Greg Smalling, Columbia (Sr., M) Mandeville, Jamaica

Defense - Doug Spelman, Yale (Sr., D) Middletown, N.Y.

Goalie - Matt Nyman, Dartmouth (Sr.) Westbrook, Conn.

 

Honorable Mention

Offense - Chris Dodson, Brown (Sr., F) Ellicott City, Md.; Leslie Fitzpatrick, Columbia (So., F) Port of Spain, Trinidad; Chung-Ming Ip, Yale (Jr., M) West Vancouver, B.C.; Adrian Rapp, Brown (Fr., F) Sausalito, Calif.; Matt Schmidt, Yale (So., M) Milwaukee, Wis.; Reginald Brown, Pennsylvania (Jr., M) Ellicott City, Md.

Defense - Gareth Jones, Dartmouth (Sr., M) Orleans, Ont.; Ryan Kelly, Harvard (So., B) Springfield, Mass.; Andrew Lundquist, Harvard (Sr., B) Bethesda, Md.; Tom Hughes, Pennsylvania (Jr., D) Wallingford, Pa.; Anthony Balsamo, Columbia (Sr., D) Meadowbrook, Pa.; Geoff Walker, Brown (Jr., D) Newton, Mass.; Tui'one Faleafa, Dartmouth (Sr., B) Auckland, N.Z.; Nathan Fuller, Cornell (Jr., M) Tigard, Ore.

Goal - Jordan Dupuis, Harvard (Sr.) Christchurch, N.Z.

 

Player of the Year - Jac Gould, Yale (Jr., F) Phoenix, Ariz.

Rookie of the Year - Matt Behncke, Princeton (Fr., F/M) Williamsburg, Va.

 

Ivy champion Brown and runner-up Yale each placed three athletes on the All-Ivy first team, which was announced today. A first-team All-Ivy selection for the second straight year, Jac Gould was named the Ivy Player of the Year, only the third Bulldog to receive the honor. One of the most prolific scorers in the East, Gould led the Ivy League in overall scoring with 35 points (15 goals, 5 assists) and had seven multi-point games, including three hat tricks. By the time he graduates in the spring of 2000, he should hold the Yale career records for goals and points. He currently has 31 career goals, two shy of the record, and 71 points, six shy of the school mark.

Gould, the lone unanimous selection among this year's honorees, was joined on the offensive first team by two of his teammates, Phil Harris and Hiro Suzuki. Harris was the League's scoring leader in Ivy play for the second straight year, tallying 18 points (6g, 6a) in seven contests, including three assists vs. Cornell and a whopping four goals vs. Princeton in the season's final game. Overall, Harris finished second behind Gould in the scoring race, totaling 26 points on the year (10g, 6a). Suzuki was the man in the middle who catapulted the Bulldogs' attack for the third straight year. He finished with 14 points overall (3g, 8a) and seven points in League play (2g, 3a). Together, the threesome led Yale to one of the strongest offenses in League history. The 24 Ivy goals scored by Yale were the most in the League since the 1989 Princeton team also scored 24, and you have to go back to the 1976 Brown team's total of 26 to find a number that surpassed the Bulldogs' output.

Like the three Yale players, the final two members of the offensive first team have at least a year of eligibility remaining. Harvard midfielder Armando Petruccelli was fifth in the League in overall scoring with 17 points (7g, 3a), despite missing the first three games of the season. He was selected co-MVP on a Crimson team that was unbeaten in its last five games (4-0-1) and finished 2-1-1 against ranked opponents. Cornell sophomore sensation Richard Stimpson, the 1997 Ivy Rookie of the Year, finished one notch ahead of Petruccelli in the overall scoring race, tallying 18 points (4g, 10a). The 10 assists left Stimpson one behind the school record set by Chris Agoliati in 1972, and he became one of only three players in Big Red history to reach double figures in assists in a single season. With 12 career assists, Stimpson sits just six behind the school's all-time leader, current Cornell assistant coach Rob Elliott.

Brown allowed just two goals in League play all season, which tied the Bears with the 1983 Columbia team for the second-fewest goals allowed in Ivy League men's soccer history. The Ivy champion's defensive strength was rewarded with three members achieving first team All-Ivy status. GK Matt Cross was consistent in every match, and ended the season with the League lead in goals-against average for both Ivy games (0.26) and overall (0.72). Cross finished with nine shutouts overall, including six in seven Ivy games. He was helped immensely by the defensive efforts of Ryan Smith and Cory Gibbs. Smith was the glue of the team as a defensive midfielder, and finished with two goals and two assists, including three points (1g, 1a) in Ivy play. Gibbs, a member of the Under-20 national team, scored one goal and one assist this year from his defensive position.

The Brown trio was joined by four other seniors in the defensive first-team slots due to a tie in the voting. Dartmouth's Bobby Meyer became only the 21st player in League history to be named first team All-Ivy three times during his career, having been selected the past three seasons. One of the top central defenders in the country, Meyer scored one goal this season. Princeton's Chris Halupka played in the back and the midfield, scoring two goals and two assists in Ivy play despite being injured during the beginning of the season. It is Halupka's second straight year on the first team. Columbia's Rino Matarazzo and Harvard's Lee Williams rounded out the elite squad. Matarazzo scored five goals and three assists from his midfield spot, including two goals and an assist in Ivy play. Williams, a solid stopper for the Crimson, was named the team's co-MVP in 1998 after scoring a goal and an assist in Ivy play from his defensive position.

Princeton's Matt Behncke was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Year, the eighth Tiger to receive the award. He tied for the scoring lead on the team with nine points (4g, 1a), despite missing the last five games of the season with a broken jaw.