With the regular season completely wrapped up, the AFCAA Family celebrated the season’s successes at Good Time Charley’s/Cantina in Ann Arbor with the end-of-season banquet and awards presentation on Monday, July 11. 17 awards in total, 14 from the club, and three from the Main Street Hooligans supporters group were presented to players and staff of both the men’s and women’s teams. The award honorees are as follows:
Team MVP (Men): Curt Calov
A late arrival to the side missing the first two matches, Calov made up for lost time instantly with dazzling performances in the midfield. A supremely gifted technical player, Calov’s composure and ability to make magic happen out of nothing proved to be vital to the side’s midfield efforts over the course of the season.
Team MVP (Women): Angeline Kieh
Kieh proved to be a vital presence in the women’s eleven in nearly every match this season. Starting in most of her appearances and proven to be an inexhaustible choice to lead the line as a striker, Kieh would cement herself as not simply a skillful player, but one who is fun to watch, wowing fans with tricks and slick moves on the ball, and ending the season with two goals and a co-team-high three assists, emphasizing her importance in the side’s build-up play.
Offensive MVP (Men): Shion Soga
Despite visa issues necessitating his return to Japan, and missing the last five matches of the season, Soga’s season will go down in the AFC Ann Arbor record books as one of the finest attacking seasons in history. With eight goals on the season and a club-record output, Soga was a reliable source of crucial goals in big moments.
Offensive MVP (Women): Lina Berrah
Like Soga, Berrah’s season in attack is going to be one to remember for a long, long, time. Leading the women’s team in goals (six) and tied for the lead in assists (three), Berrah dominated play on the wing, running up and down the flank, tormenting opponents with her pace and excellent left-footed service.
Defensive MVP (Men): David Garcia
A frequent captain of the side, Garcia made seemingly endless crucial interventions at the defensive end. Whether as part of a center-back duo, or in the back three that the men have taken shape in as of late, Garcia’s calmness and ability on the ball, combined with his stout defensive skills, made him a key part of this 2022 side.
Defensive MVP (Women): Ashley Zugay
Another CB who regularly served as their side’s captain, Zugay’s durability and strong defensive abilities earned her the right to be named Defensive MVP on the women’s side. Featuring in eight matches, Zugay played the full 90 in all eight of them. Zugay also notched two key goal contributions throughout the season in USL W League action.
Strength in the Oak (Men): Tomas Casas
The Strength in the Oak Award is given to those AFC Ann Arbor players who exemplify the team spirit and ethos of the club.
Casas is the embodiment of a warrior mentality. On the field, Casas proved to be crucial wherever deployed, being the only men’s player to start and play in all 90 minutes of each of the first four matches of the season. Off the field, Casas is a model teammate, with a sort of calm kindness that resonated through the entire organization.
Strength in the Oak (Women): Claire Cahalan
Cahalan’s position as a defensive-minded central midfielder does not usually lend itself to heaps of praise, but Cahalan’s consistency and presence in the center of the park made it impossible for fans to ignore her importance. As a teammate, Cahalan’s positive attitude and lively spirit served as a constant boost throughout the duration of the season.
Athlete Activist (Men): Jonathan Gomes
Athlete Activist (Women): Jayde Riviere
This set of awards was awarded to two members of the AFCAA Family that spent half-seasons with the club but made long-lasting impacts through their positive actions. Both of these athletes took knees during national anthems at away matches, and both did so bravely and in the face of hostility. ‘Class’ and ‘poise’ are two things that both Gomes and Riviere have in spades, and these are well-deserved awards for two extremely impactful players.
Gomes has quickly become a valued keeper on and off the pitch, with his organizational skills and communication ability proving essential for the team’s back-line.
Riviere served as co-captain for the side while with The Mighty Oak, and her quality and confidence on the field served as a boost for all players alongside her.
Ubuntu Award (Men): Malcolm Young
Ubuntu Award (Women): Kendall Robertson
Ubuntu means ‘I am because we are’, it reflects the need for qualities like compassion and humanity in all of our lives. Over the course of the season, both Young and Robertson proved themselves to embody this characteristic through their work as teammates and people on and off the pitch.
Young immediately showed himself to be a lively dressing-room influence, and an excellent right back to boot. Affable and amiable, even despite an injury, Young has remained a part of the travel party and ensured that heads never drop with a smile and a joke. Throughout the season, on the field, Young was the provider of plenty of excellent crosses and even chipped in a goal to the cause in Kalamazoo.
Robertson has embodied the ‘next person up’ attitude that is so important in the world of sport, especially soccer, and especially as a goalkeeper. Robertson made five appearances and jam-packed much action into them, including several vital saves, and one on a penalty kick. She secured a clean sheet in each of her final two appearances on the season, including the 2-0 home finale against Midwest United FC.
Staff Member of the Year: Austin Sarns (Men’s Director of Operations)
Ryan Makuch Media Award: Jinseong Kim (Senior Media Specialist)
The front office honored Austin Sarns and Jinseong Kim with the staff honors of the season.
Sarns, the Men’s Director of Operations, is a beloved presence in the locker room and behind the scenes – his honoring warranted ‘We love you Austin, we do!’ chants from the entire men’s team. Frequently called into service to drive players, order and pick up food, and generally go above his outlined job duties, Sarns is a valued member of the staff by all.
Kim, the club’s Senior Media Specialist, earned the newly christened ‘Ryan Makuch Media Award’ for media excellence. The right hand of the club’s media department, Kim has dutifully continued to stand out with his written work, as well as taking an elevated role in gameday operations, among many other realms within the club.
Main Street Hooligans Player of the Year (Men): Jonathan Gomes
Main Street Hooligans Co-Players of the Year (Women): Luana Grabias and Lina Berrah
The Main Street Hooligans ended the night with their presentation of their ‘POTY’ awards for the men and the women. Gomes and Berrah both earned honors for the second time on the night while Grabias, a fan favorite in every sense of the phrase and a vital sparkplug in attack for the women’s side all throughout the season, was awarded her first.