WASHINGTON – The Atlantic 10 announced Monday that Massachusetts senior Alec Hughes three-peated as the Atlantic 10 Men’s Soccer Offensive Player of the Year while Dayton's Hjalti Sigurdsson was named Defensive Player of the Year. Additionally, Fordham's Daniel D'Ippolito garnered Midfielder of the Year laurels while Saint Louis' Jeremi Abonnel earned Goalkeeper of the Year. Sigurdsson's teammate Andrew Armstrong was named the Rookie of the Year, while Regular Season Champion George Mason's head coach Rich Costanzo was chosen as the Coach of the Year.
The Atlantic 10 released the six superlative awards along with the All-Conference, All-Rookie and All-Academic teams Wednesday. The major honors, All-Conference Teams and All-Rookie Team were voted on by the A-10 men’s soccer head coaches while the All-Academic Team was selected by the men’s soccer communications directors.
Hughes is the first player in conference history to be named A-10 Offensive Player of the Year three times, earning Co-Offensive Player of the Year in 2022 and winning the honor outright in back-to-back years (2023, 2024). The Glastonbury, Conn. native is the first Minutemen since Jeff Deren (2001, 2002) to win the award in consecutive years. Hughes made 14 appearances during the regular season, starting in 13 contests. Despite missing three games, Hughes finished the season as the Atlantic 10’s top goal scorer with 14 total. The graduate forward added one assist for 29 points on the year, good for second in the conference. Hughes caught fire in early September, scoring 10 goals in the span of five games including two hat tricks (Sep. 11 vs. UML, Sep. 17 vs. Dartmouth) in three games. The Glastonbury, Conn. native closed the regular season on a scoring streak, tallying four goals in the last three games. One of the four goals came in the form of the game-winning tally against No. 23 Duquesne. The graduate forward finished the season Top-10 in the country for goals scored (4th), goals per game (4th), total points (9th), and points per game (6th).
Sigurdsson earned A-10 Defensive Player of the Year honors after contributing on both sides of the ball. The Icelandic right-back led the Flyers to the fourth-best goal differential in the country and was a crucial part of the most prolific offense in Division I. He has recorded seven goals and five assists for 19 points, ranking in the top eight in the league in goals, assists, and points. Sigurdsson also has the third-most game-winning goals in the A-10 while playing the second-most minutes of any Dayton field player. The graduate student has led Dayton to a top-five ranking nationally.
D'Ippolito stands second in the Atlantic 10 with 13 goals and leads the conference with 33 points. The Baldwin Place, N.Y. native has scored in nine different games this season with two hat-tricks, including one in the Atlantic 10 Quarterfinals at Duquesne and has recorded a point in 12 different games this season. The junior becomes the first Fordham men’s soccer player to earn a major award from the Atlantic 10 since Joergen Oland won his second of back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year Awards in 2019. D’Ippolito becomes the 10th Fordham player since 1998 to take home a major conference award and just the second to earn midfielder of the year honors, joining Tim Richardson (2009).
Abonnel has a .775 save percentage this season and leads the Atlantic 10 with a .801 goals against average. The Aix-en-Provence, France native has nine shutouts this year and has given up one goal or less in 14 of 17 games. The senior shut out La Salle, Duquesne, Rhode Island, George Washington and most recently UMass in the Atlantic 10 Quartrefinals. The goalkeeper has at least three saves in six different games. He becomes the first ever Saint Louis Goalkeeper of the Year.
Armstrong started off his first collegiate season slow, getting a feel for the game, but came on strong down the stretch, starting the last 10 games and racking up a team-high eight goals to go with two assists. The New Jersey native was a three-time A-10 Rookie of the Week honoree and picked up First Team All-Conference and All-Rookie Team awards for his efforts as well. Armstrong highlighted the season with two goals in back-to-back Dayton victories, and led all A-10 freshmen in goals, points, and game-winners. The freshman has helped Dayton to a top-five ranking nationally.
Costanzo led George Mason to their first Atlantic 10 Regular Season title in any sport this year with a 6-1-1 record in conference play. The Patriots have the most wins in the country with a 13-3-1 record and saw an eight win improvement from a year ago. Under Costanzo, George Mason has three Quad 1 & 2 wins and haven't lost to a team outside the top-60 in the RPI. Costanzo becomes the first ever Men's Soccer Coach of the Year from George Mason.
The Atlantic 10 Semifinals will be played Wednesday with No. 1 George Mason taking on No. 6 Saint Louis and No. 2 Dayton facing No. 5 Fordham. The games will both begin at 7:00 p.m. ET and air on ESPN+.
2024 MEN'S SOCCER AWARDS
Offensive Player of the Year: Alec Hughes, Massachusetts
Defensive Player of the Year: Hjalti Sigurdsson, Dayton
Midfielder of the Year: Daniel D'Ippolito, Fordham
Goalkeeper of the Year: Jeremi Abonnel, Saint Louis
Rookie of the Year: Andrew Armstrong, Dayton
Coach of the Year: Rich Costanzo, George Mason
FIRST TEAM
Forwards
Andrew Armstrong, Dayton
Martin Bakken, Dayton
Maxi Hopfer, Duquesne
Alec Hughes, Massachusetts
Midfielders
Joseph Melto Quiah, Dayton
Daniel D’Ippolito, Fordham
Seth Anderson, Saint Louis
Defenders
Hjalti Sigurdsson, Dayton
Aidan Kelly, Massachusetts
Max Floriani, Saint Louis
Goalkeeper
Jeremi Abonnel, Saint Louis
SECOND TEAM
Forwards
Quentin Clain, George Mason
Marek Gonda, George Mason
Luis Lara, Saint Louis
Midfielders
Miles Bonham, Dayton
Braden Seel, Dayton
James Eliuda, George Mason
Defenders
Luis Maestre, George Mason
Javi Sanchez, George Mason
Julian Cisneros, Loyola Chicago
Joey Maher, Saint Louis
Goalkeeper
Zoltan Nagy, Duquesne
ALL-ROOKIE TEAM
Brady McGlone, Davidson
Andrew Armstrong, Dayton
Luis Bremaud, Dayton
Bendix Bennetzen, Duquesne
Martim Sereno, George Mason
Louis Crofts, George Washington
Luka Ivancic, Loyola Chicago
Hugo Urdiales, Loyola Chicago
Lucas Lukkegaard, Rhode Island
Drake Fornier, Saint Louis
Gershon Henry, Saint Louis
Mohammed Ibrahim, VCU
ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM
Martin Bakken, Dayton
Hjalti Sigurdsson, Dayton
Jaxon Ervin, Duquesne
Maxi Hopfer, Duquesne
Daniel D’Ippolito, Fordham
Benji Jones, Fordham
William Turner, George Washington
Drew Blackwell, La Salle
Mike Willis, Massachusetts
Íñigo Etxegarai, Rhode Island
Luis Lara, Saint Louis