Gabriel Arraes and Felipe Baeza headlined additional post season honors for the Barton Community College men's soccer program as announced by the United Soccer Coaches association.
The duo received the highest of academic awards presented by United Soccer Coaches in garnering first team distinction of the eleven member Scholar All-America team, while also being named All-America for their performances on the field as Arraes earned a first team honor with Baeza landing on the second team.
Arraes, along with the KJCCC defensive player of the year Victor Gonzalez, were also a first team All-America selection granted by the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) to increase the program's historical total to nineteen.
Tops in the region in both scoring and assists, Arraes had a break out sophomore season to earn first team honors on both the conference and region squads. The native of Recife, Brazil, rattled the nets a program third best twenty times to climb into the storied top ten list in the eight spot with twenty-six career goals. Arraes also dished out a team third best nine assists in accumulating forty-nine points for the fifth best single season achievement and a seventh best career point total of sixty-two.
Baeza was a six-time conference and two-time national goalkeeper of the week as the native of Santiago, Chile, helped turn a good Barton defense into a great defense with eleven shutouts allowing just .54 goals against in eighteen games in net. One of the top keepers of the net in the nation, Baeza's lone loss of the season came in the national title game to finish 16-1-1 on the year.
The pair of sophomores were joined on the United Soccer Coaches All-North Regional first team by freshmen Robin Rouaud along the backline and Nicolas Torres manning the midfield. Tevin Rochester completed the haul of awards for the Cougars as the freshman earned second team honors.
Rouaud was another key contributor to the Cougars' defensive wall while also delivering three key goals on the season. Hailing from Lorient, France, Rouaud largest of three goals came just six minutes into the Plains District semifinals to ignite the Cougars to four first half net shakers.
Torres brought an offensive threat to the pitch in any role, and at any time, accounting for sixteen points on the season. The native of Santiago, Chile, was especially bigtime in Barton's playoff run, rattling the net three of his five times during the year including the Cougars' first goal of the national tournament while dishing out three of his six season assists in the Plains District tournament.
A member of the 2018 NJCAA Division I All-Tournament team, Rochester netted ten goals on the season to finish second on the squad in goals and points scored with twenty-three. The Kingston, Jamaica, native's last goal of his inaugural season had given Barton a 1-0 national championship game lead until a 79th minute equalizer set the stage for a double overtime title dashing.
With Arraes on the offensive end of the field and Baeza anchoring the defensive end to go along with a deep and talented mix of freshmen and sophomores throughout the pitch, the Cougars under third year Head Coach Mike Brown and volunteer assistant coach Humberto Estrada completed the 2018 campaign as the NJCAA National Championship runner-up. Dropping the title game 2-1 with four minutes to play in double overtime, the Cougars completed the season 21-2-2 season to match the 2010 squad for most victories while sitting atop the program's chart with the highest national placing. Along the way Brown's Cougars secured the program's ninth Jayhawk West crown, the program's sixth Region VI title, and the fourth Plains District title in making the men's soccer's fourth national tournament appearance.
The honorees will be formally recognized for their accomplishments at the United Soccer Coaches All-America Ceremony and Reception on January 12, 2019, at McCormick Place West in Chicago, Illinois, in conjunction with the 2019 United Soccer Coaches Convention.
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