Ivy League Honors for Locals

Henderson Snares Player of the Year Award

Novemeber 25, 2008

Dartmouth senior Craig Henderson and freshman Lucky Mkosana were named the Ivy League Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year, respectively. Both players were joined on the Ivy League first team by teammate Sean Milligan as well as four players from Harvard University.

For Henderson, a senior midfielder, the award caps a thrilling year in which he also represented his home New Zealand in the 2008 Olympic Games. He started 16 games for the Ivy League Champion Big Green (11-5-1, 5-1-1 Ivy) and led a potent Dartmouth attack from the center midfield position, ranking second on the team and sixth in the league with 17 points on six goals and five assists.

Dartmouth's Craig Henderson earned the Ivy League Player of the Year award. (Dartmouth Athletics)

Henderson was voted unanimously to the All-Ivy first team after earning second team honors as a junior. Also voted unanimously to the All-Ivy first team, Mkosana led both Dartmouth and the league in scoring with 24 points including a league-best 11 goals. The freshman forward, who was a four-time Ivy Rookie of the Week, scored four game-winning goals for the Big Green this season and was a dynamo on the front line.

Senior goalkeeper Milligan (Westport, Conn.) makes his second-straight first team All-Ivy appearance after backstopping the Big Green to 11 wins and six shutouts this season. Milligan posted a 0.87 goals against average and made 55 saves.

Four members of the Harvard men’s soccer team were named to the All-Ivy League first team. Junior Andre Akpan and senior co-captain Michael Fucito earned their third consecutive selection to the first team and were joined by senior John Stamatis and junior Kwaku Nyamekye.

Akpan and Stamatis were chosen unanimously to the first team, the third straight season that Akpan has been so honored by the league’s head coaches.

Akpan finished the regular season as the conference’s leading scorer with 24 points. He was also second in goals with nine and tied for second in the Ancient Eight with six helpers. The junior forward from Grand Prairie, Texas, put his name in the Harvard record books, becoming the Crimson’s all-time leader in points with 95 and assists with 27.

Stamatis paced the Ivy League and was eighth in the nation with nine helpers. An All-Ivy honorable mention choice a year ago and a second-team selection in 2006, Stamatis, a midfielder, posted a career high 19 points and five goals as a senior this fall.

Fucito, a forward and midfielder from Westford, Mass., was chosen to the All-Ivy League first team for the third time in his career after finishing tied for second in the Ivy League in scoring with nine tallies, third with 22 points and ninth with four assists. He was second in the conference with a Harvard-best four game-winning strikes.

Nyamekye makes his first appearance on the All-Ivy League first team after receiving second-team honors last fall and honorable mention in 2006. The junior defender from Geneva, Switzerland, was once again one of Harvard’s strongest back line players, helped the Crimson allow only 16 goals in 16 contests. Nyamekye also picked key moments for his three goals on the year, two of which were game winners.

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