During the 2018 Summit League Awards, the Denver Pioneers swept the Summit League Offensive Player of the Year, Summit League Defensive Player of the Year, Summit League Goalkeeper of the Year, Summit League Newcomer of the Year and Summit League Coach of the Year awards. They also placed five student athletes to the Summit League First Team and two more student athletes to the Summit League Second Team.
Senior Captain Andre Shinyashiki (Sao Paolo, Brazil) was named as the Summit League Offensive Player of the Year. He currently leads the NCAA in six different categories; game-winning goals (10), goals per game (1.5), points per game (3.22), shots on goal per game (3.17), total goals (27) and total points (58). All numbers were those at the time of the Summit League Banquet—since then he has added another goal to his total. He recently set new records in Denver’s Division I history in career and single-season points, goals and game-winning goals. Shinyashiki is a finalist for the 2018 Senior CLASS Award which fans can vote for online.
Senior captain Scott DeVoss (Centennial, Colo.) was named Summit League Defensive Player of the year for the second year in a row. In his fourth year at Denver, he helped lead a Denver defense that ranks 20th in the nation for goals against average (0.734) and 13th in shutout percentage (0.500). DeVoss was named to the October 9 Top Drawer Soccer National Team of the Week.
Redshirt-sophomore goalkeeper Will Palmquist (Denver) was named as the Summit League Goalkeeper of the Year following a year in which he made 26 saves and accumulated 0.74 goals against average. He has made three solo and two shared shutouts this season.
Newcomer of the Year Callum Stretch (Encino, Calif.) was part of the Denver defense. He has placed the third most minutes on the team with 1615 minutes and has been an integral member of the defense that has allowed just 16 shots in the league matches.
Head Coach Jamie Franks was named Summit League Coach of the Year for the fourth time in four years. In his fourth year with the Pioneers as a head coach, Franks has a total record of 59-11-10. This year, the Pioneers reached their first No. 1 ranking in program history in Top Drawer Soccer’s Week 8 Top-25 ranking. The award came a week after Denver earned the top GPA in the country for the third year in a row.
DeVoss, Shinkashki, Palmquist and Stretch were joined by sophomore Jacob Stensson (Stockholm, Sweden) on the 2018 Summit League First Team. Stensson was third in the league in assists after collecting seven. He is tied for most assists in league play with four assists.
Seniors Kenny Akamatsu (Niigata, Japan) and Moshe Perez (Shim’a, Israel) both were named to the Summit League Second Team.
Perez, a transfer from Colorado Mesa, finished with two goals as well as five assists in the 2018 regular season despite missing nine matches. He finished third on the team in the regular season for assists.
Akamatsu finished with 0.53 assists per game in the regular season, ranking second in the Summit League and 12th in the country. He is ranked 20th in the nation in total assists (8). His 14 points, coming from three goals and eight assists, is second on a strong Denver team. Following Akamatsu’s appearance in the Senior Night game, he is now 12th in Denver Division I history for appearances with 74 career appearances.
Stretch was joined on the Summit League All-Newcomer Team by freshman Stefan DeLeone (Fort Collins, Colo.) and redshirt-freshman Jared Jungjohann (Highlands Ranch, Colo.).
DeLeone has appeared in every match for Denver this season. He has scored three goals and assisted on three other goals. In the Top Drawer Soccer Midseason Top-100 Freshmen, DeLeone was ranked as 85th.
Jungjohann was ranked as 48th in the Top Drawer Soccer Midseason Top-100 Freshmen. He has appeared in all of Denver’s matches this season and played full minutes in eight of Denver’s 20 matches.
With such a strong team, it is no surprise that Denver is headed back to the NCAA Men’s Soccer Tournament. They have a bye for the first round and will face the winner of Air Force v. Central Arkansas.
