Five Soccer Players Honored by PSUAC Post-Season Awards
Five PSUGA soccer players received All-Conference honors from the Penn State University Athletic Conference today. The five award winners are a school record beating the previous high of four in 2014 and 2015
McKeesport, Pa. – It was a historic season for the Penn State Greater Allegheny Men’s Soccer Team in 2017. They set new school records in wins (9), conference wins (7), and made it to the Penn State University Athletic Conference playoffs for the fourth consecutive season dating back to 2014. PSUGA entered the 2017 playoff race as the number two seed, but fell in the semifinal round to Penn State Hazleton 4-1.
Now, PSUGA is being awarded for their historic season as five of the PSUGA Soccer players received post season awards from the PSUAC. Over the weekend, Leela Nepal (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin HS), Marin Marina (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin HS), and Jake Theiret (Port Vue, Pa./South Allegheny) were all named 2nd team all-conference PSUAC award recipients and Colin Buscok (Pittsburgh, Pa./Thomas Jefferson) and Belmo Nurkic (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin HS) were named all-conference honorable mentions for their roles on this season’s team.
Marin Marina lead PSUGA in many of the major offensive categories including shots (48) and points (28) while tying for the team lead in goals with 11. Those marks also had him ranked around the conference as he was ranked fifth in the conference in points, shots, and goals. Marina has played a big role on the offensive side of the ball for PSUGA throughout his four-year career and this is his third straight season being named an all-conference player, first team in 2014 and second team in 2015.
Leela Nepal played a big role on the defensive side of the ball helping out his goalie and setting up the PSUGA strikers for goal scoring opportunities. Nepal participated in 11 of the 12 matches for PSUGA soccer and was able to consistently clear the ball out of the other team’s offensive zone and set up Marina, Theiret, and Belmo for the great seasons they had.
Jake Theiret received two awards on the day as he was not only named to the PSUAC 2nd Team All-Conference but he was also the John Fritz Sportsmanship award winner for PSUGA Soccer. Theiret had a break out season in his senior year with the team finishing third in goals with 10 and tied for third on the team in assists with 5. Theiret is receiving his first ever All-Conference award from the PSUAC and it is rightfully deserved after his big performance.
Colin Buscok had a phenomenal first season in net with PSUGA. He came in as a freshman, but played well beyond his years in net looking like a veteran soccer goalie. He allowed two or more goals only twice all season and recorded seven shut-outs in his freshman year. Buscok finished fifth in all of the PSUAC in save percentage at .747, fourth in goals against with 22, and fifth in goals against average with 2.17.
Belmo Nurkic was the other offensive powerhouse for the PSUGA soccer team helping Marina and Theiret. Nurkic finished the year tied for the team lead with 11 goals and second in points with 27 and shots with 41. Nurkic also played a key role in helping to get the ball back on the offensive side of the field with many slide tackles that got his team in position to score.
The five all-conference award winners for PSUGA was the third most in all of the PSUAC behind Penn State Brandywine and Penn State Hazleton who each had six award winners. The five PSUAC All-Conference award winners also sets another PSUGA soccer record for the most All-Conference award winners in School History. The previous high was four which has been done two times in the past, the 2014 and 2015 seasons.
Congratulations to all of our PSUGA Soccer award winners and congratulations on a historic 2017 soccer year.