Georgia Gwinnett College’s Contrera Earns 2024 CAC Men’s Soccer Player of the Year Honor
Georgia Gwinnett College freshman Alejandro Contrera has been recognized as Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year among Continental Athletic Conference men's soccer awards for the 2024 season. The team and special honors were selected by a vote of league head coaches.
Meanwhile, other special awards recognized Bellevue University (Nebraska) senior Taariq Ganga as Goalkeeper of the Year and the Bruins' Mark Heath-Preston as Coach of the Year.
Contrera scored 10 goals across nine matches, including four match-winning tallies, and provided five assists from his forward position to lead the Grizzlies during the season. He tallied goals in five consecutive matches, including three against fellow CAC opponents.
Ganga has earned top goalkeeper honors in the CAC for the season straight season. He has posted a 14-2-2 record and a 0.80 goals against average while starting all 18 matches for Bellevue this fall. He has made 49 saves over 1,583 minutes.
Heath-Preston has guided Bellevue to a 14-2-2 record, a No. 7 standing in the final regular season NAIA Top 25 national poll, and top seed for the 2024 CAC tournament.
Bellevue and GGC will play for the conference championship and NAIA postseason bid on Wednesday, November 13, at 4 p.m. at the Grizzly Soccer Complex in Lawrenceville, Georgia.
Here are this year's specialty awards and all-conference teams, sorted alphabetically by position, along with the Champion of Character award winners for the six postseason qualifying teams:
2024 Continental Athletic Conference Men's Soccer All-Conference Team
Player of the Year: Alejandro Contrera, Georgia Gwinnett College
Goalkeeper of the Year: Taariq Ganga, Bellevue University
Newcomer of the Year: Alejandro Contrera, Georgia Gwinnett College
Coach of the Year: Mark Heath-Preston, Bellevue University
First Team
Forward – Alejandro Contrera, Georgia Gwinnett College
Forward – Matias Daniel-Doren, Bellevue University
Forward – Marcos Hernandez Molina, Washington Adventist University
Forward – Tavar Lawrence, Talladega College
Midfielder – Jose-Miguel Boggio, Bellevue University
Midfielder – Kevin Diaz, Georgia Gwinnett College
Midfielder – Giovani Lima Soares, Bellevue University
Midfielder – Toufik Najem, Georgia Gwinnett College
Defender – Tyrike Andrews, Talladega College
Defender – Edwin Cisneros, Bellevue University
Defender – Amadou Diop, Georgia Gwinnett College
Defender – Hugo Luengo, Georgia Gwinnett College
Goalkeeper – Taariq Ganga, Bellevue University
Second Team
Forward – Ciro Damine, Georgia Gwinnett College
Forward – Filipe Sette Ribeiro, Florida National University
Forward – Jake Simson, University of Jamestown
Forward – Luke Spillane-Davis, Carolina University
Midfielder – Jose Attong, Talladega College
Midfielder – Jose Luis Hurtado, Florida National University
Midfielder – Alessandro Peroglio, Washington Adventist University
Midfielder – Anthony Ulloa, Wiley University
Defender – Joao Campana, Washington Adventist University
Defender – Ricardo Delwing, Florida National University
Defender – Fletcher Hedge, Bellevue University
Defender – Juan Hermenegildo, Georgia Gwinnett College
Goalkeeper – Dagoberto Romero, Georgia Gwinnett College
Honorable Mention
Forward – Marcos Bakale, Florida National University
Forward – Saeed Charles, Talladega College
Forward – Leonardo Di Biase, Fisher College
Forward – Ombeni Mubake, Bellevue University
Midfielder – Nicholas Giesing, Florida College
Midfielder – Luigi Piccoli, Carolina University
Midfielder – Juan Pugin, Florida National University
Midfielder – Oscar Salgado, University of Jamestown
Defender – Devon Berry, Florida College
Defender – Buster Honeywood, Bellevue University
Defender – Riko Kuwano, Washington Adventist University
Defender – Chris Stafford, Georgia Gwinnett College
Goalkeeper – Filip Borka, Florida College
Goalkeeper – Joshua Wilson, Carolina University
Champion of Character
Tyrike Andrews, Talladega College
Samuel Damise, Washington Adventist University
Ricardo Delwing, Florida National University
Diego Gavia, Bellevue University
Cesar Rojas, Georgia Gwinnett College
Robin Salge, Carolina University