University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Bova and LaCasto Earn All-Conference Honors
11.03.2017 | Men's Soccer
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Two UNC Asheville men's soccer players earned league honors when the end of season awards were released on Friday, Nov. 3.
UNC Asheville freshman standout Dante Bova was chosen Honorable Mention All-Conference and to the All-Freshman Team, while Joe LaCasto was named to the Big South All-Academic Team.
"This is a great honor from the Big South, and certainly any time you get your players recognized by your fellow coaches, that's a great honor," UNC Asheville men's soccer head coach Mathes Mennell said. "You look at the players that make up the Big South first team, second team, Honorable Mention, the Attacking Player of the Year, the Defending Player of the Year, the Coach of the Year and the Scholar-Athlete of the Year, that's a really quality group. For us to have representation is great and I think that it's well-deserved. I thought for Joe LaCasto to be recognized for his academic pursuits and for his accomplishments on the field, I think it's great. For Dante, I thought he was excellent and I think that he's got a very bright future and that he's a Bulldog for what he's done. For him to make Honorable Mention as a freshman, it hasn't been done in a long time here at UNC Asheville and to make the All-Freshman Team, that's a great honor. Certainly, you would love to see more of your players recognized, but you say that recognizing the quality that is our league. I think it's awesome that the fellow coaches decided our players were worthy of these recognitions."
Bova closed out his freshman season with the Bulldogs logging 1,612 minutes. He started all 18 matches for UNC Asheville.
The freshman defender from Hartland, Wis. anchored two shutout wins for the Bulldogs on the season. He also closed out the year by assisting on two Bulldog goals. Bova had an assist in Asheville's league road win at Winthrop and in Asheville's narrow 2-1 double overtime loss to Campbell.
Bova was named the Oct. 30 Big South Freshman of the Week.
LaCasto played in all 18 Asheville matches this season, making 15 starts. He played in a total of 1,259 minutes for Asheville.
LaCasto led the Bulldogs on the 2017 season with two goals. He scored his first goal of the year in UNC Asheville's home match with Georgia State on Oct. 17. His second goal of the year came in UNC Asheville's league home 2-2 tie in the regular season finale against Presbyterian College.
In the classroom, the junior midfielder owns a 3.296 grade-point average as a Health and Wellness major at UNC Asheville.
2017 Big South Conference Men's Soccer Award Winners
First-Team All-Conference
F: Kieran Roberts, R-Jr., Radford
F: JJ Donnelly, Jr., Campbell
F: Sivert Daehlie, Jr., Radford
MF: Kevin Mendoza, Jr., Liberty
MF: Jonathan Bolanos, Soph., High Point
MF: Ebe Kudolo, Sr., High Point
MF: Victor Valls, R-Soph., Radford
D: Fraser Colmer, Sr., Radford
D: Rashid Tetteh, Jr., High Point
D: Johnny Fenwick, Jr., High Point
D: Gideon Betz, Soph., Campbell
GK: Keegan Meyer, Soph., High Point
AL: Tresor Mbuyu, Jr., Liberty
Second-Team All-Conference
F: Severin Soerlie, Soph, Gardner-Webb
F: Magnus Moldjord, Soph., Gardner-Webb
F: Max Hasenstab, R-Sr., Winthrop
MF: Evan Szklennik, Sr., Radford
MF: Ryan Inman, Soph., High Point
MF: Pepe Segarra, Sr., Liberty
MF: Sergio Pinto, MF, Soph., Presbyterian
D: Simen Sundborg Olsen, Soph., Gardner-Webb
D: Tom Devitt, Sr., Longwood
D: Max Edwards, Fr., Radford
D: Alex Dominguez, Sr., Liberty
GK: Matthew Mozynski, Sr., Campbell
AL: Alemu Mercer-Miko, Fr., Campbell
Honorable Mention All-Conference
Gary Parrish, D, Jr., Campbell
Bana Ganidekam, MF, Soph., High Point
Nil Vinyals, MF, Sr., Winthrop
Dante Bova, D, Fr., UNC Asheville
Jack Hoey, MF, Jr., Gardner-Webb
All-Freshman Team
Alemu Mercer-Miko, MF, Fr., Campbell
Max Edwards, D, Fr., Radford
Dante Bova, D, Fr., UNC Asheville
Adrian Edo Martin, MF, Fr., Presbyterian
Oskar Wang, MF, Fr., Gardner-Webb
Humberto Chavez, MF, Fr., Campbell
Clement Vannier, F, Fr., Presbyterian
Noy Daabul, D, Fr., Radford
Petter Johansen, MF, Fr., Gardner-Webb
Victor Menudier, D, Fr., Presbyterian
Jonas Olsaker, D, Fr., Gardner-Webb
All-Academic Team
Gideon Betz, D, Soph., Campbell
Magnus Moldjord, MF, Soph., Gardner-Webb
Jonathan Ware, D, R-Sr., High Point
Nico Bellarde, D, Jr., Liberty
Vaughn Fowler, D, Sr., Longwood
Ricardo Hernandez, MF, Soph., Presbyterian College
Fraser Colmer, D, Sr., Radford
Joe LaCasto, MF, Jr., UNC Asheville
Max Hasenstab, F, R-Sr., Winthrop
Attacking Player of the Year
Kieran Roberts, F, R-Jr., Radford
Co-Defensive Player of the Year
Fraser Colmer, D, Sr., Radford
Rashid Tetteh, D, Jr., High Point
Freshman of the Year
Alemu Mercer-Miko, MF, Fr., Campbell
Coach of the Year
E.J. O'Keeffe, High Point
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Fraser Colmer, D, Sr., Radford
UNC Asheville freshman standout Dante Bova was chosen Honorable Mention All-Conference and to the All-Freshman Team, while Joe LaCasto was named to the Big South All-Academic Team.
"This is a great honor from the Big South, and certainly any time you get your players recognized by your fellow coaches, that's a great honor," UNC Asheville men's soccer head coach Mathes Mennell said. "You look at the players that make up the Big South first team, second team, Honorable Mention, the Attacking Player of the Year, the Defending Player of the Year, the Coach of the Year and the Scholar-Athlete of the Year, that's a really quality group. For us to have representation is great and I think that it's well-deserved. I thought for Joe LaCasto to be recognized for his academic pursuits and for his accomplishments on the field, I think it's great. For Dante, I thought he was excellent and I think that he's got a very bright future and that he's a Bulldog for what he's done. For him to make Honorable Mention as a freshman, it hasn't been done in a long time here at UNC Asheville and to make the All-Freshman Team, that's a great honor. Certainly, you would love to see more of your players recognized, but you say that recognizing the quality that is our league. I think it's awesome that the fellow coaches decided our players were worthy of these recognitions."
Bova closed out his freshman season with the Bulldogs logging 1,612 minutes. He started all 18 matches for UNC Asheville.
The freshman defender from Hartland, Wis. anchored two shutout wins for the Bulldogs on the season. He also closed out the year by assisting on two Bulldog goals. Bova had an assist in Asheville's league road win at Winthrop and in Asheville's narrow 2-1 double overtime loss to Campbell.
Bova was named the Oct. 30 Big South Freshman of the Week.
LaCasto played in all 18 Asheville matches this season, making 15 starts. He played in a total of 1,259 minutes for Asheville.
LaCasto led the Bulldogs on the 2017 season with two goals. He scored his first goal of the year in UNC Asheville's home match with Georgia State on Oct. 17. His second goal of the year came in UNC Asheville's league home 2-2 tie in the regular season finale against Presbyterian College.
In the classroom, the junior midfielder owns a 3.296 grade-point average as a Health and Wellness major at UNC Asheville.
2017 Big South Conference Men's Soccer Award Winners
First-Team All-Conference
F: Kieran Roberts, R-Jr., Radford
F: JJ Donnelly, Jr., Campbell
F: Sivert Daehlie, Jr., Radford
MF: Kevin Mendoza, Jr., Liberty
MF: Jonathan Bolanos, Soph., High Point
MF: Ebe Kudolo, Sr., High Point
MF: Victor Valls, R-Soph., Radford
D: Fraser Colmer, Sr., Radford
D: Rashid Tetteh, Jr., High Point
D: Johnny Fenwick, Jr., High Point
D: Gideon Betz, Soph., Campbell
GK: Keegan Meyer, Soph., High Point
AL: Tresor Mbuyu, Jr., Liberty
Second-Team All-Conference
F: Severin Soerlie, Soph, Gardner-Webb
F: Magnus Moldjord, Soph., Gardner-Webb
F: Max Hasenstab, R-Sr., Winthrop
MF: Evan Szklennik, Sr., Radford
MF: Ryan Inman, Soph., High Point
MF: Pepe Segarra, Sr., Liberty
MF: Sergio Pinto, MF, Soph., Presbyterian
D: Simen Sundborg Olsen, Soph., Gardner-Webb
D: Tom Devitt, Sr., Longwood
D: Max Edwards, Fr., Radford
D: Alex Dominguez, Sr., Liberty
GK: Matthew Mozynski, Sr., Campbell
AL: Alemu Mercer-Miko, Fr., Campbell
Honorable Mention All-Conference
Gary Parrish, D, Jr., Campbell
Bana Ganidekam, MF, Soph., High Point
Nil Vinyals, MF, Sr., Winthrop
Dante Bova, D, Fr., UNC Asheville
Jack Hoey, MF, Jr., Gardner-Webb
All-Freshman Team
Alemu Mercer-Miko, MF, Fr., Campbell
Max Edwards, D, Fr., Radford
Dante Bova, D, Fr., UNC Asheville
Adrian Edo Martin, MF, Fr., Presbyterian
Oskar Wang, MF, Fr., Gardner-Webb
Humberto Chavez, MF, Fr., Campbell
Clement Vannier, F, Fr., Presbyterian
Noy Daabul, D, Fr., Radford
Petter Johansen, MF, Fr., Gardner-Webb
Victor Menudier, D, Fr., Presbyterian
Jonas Olsaker, D, Fr., Gardner-Webb
All-Academic Team
Gideon Betz, D, Soph., Campbell
Magnus Moldjord, MF, Soph., Gardner-Webb
Jonathan Ware, D, R-Sr., High Point
Nico Bellarde, D, Jr., Liberty
Vaughn Fowler, D, Sr., Longwood
Ricardo Hernandez, MF, Soph., Presbyterian College
Fraser Colmer, D, Sr., Radford
Joe LaCasto, MF, Jr., UNC Asheville
Max Hasenstab, F, R-Sr., Winthrop
Attacking Player of the Year
Kieran Roberts, F, R-Jr., Radford
Co-Defensive Player of the Year
Fraser Colmer, D, Sr., Radford
Rashid Tetteh, D, Jr., High Point
Freshman of the Year
Alemu Mercer-Miko, MF, Fr., Campbell
Coach of the Year
E.J. O'Keeffe, High Point
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Fraser Colmer, D, Sr., Radford
Players Mentioned
D
/ Men's Soccer
MF
/ Men's SoccerMonday, November 13
Monday, November 06
Monday, November 06
Monday, October 30