Four Flames earned All-Horizon League honors in the postseason awards that were announced today.  Jacob Graiber was named to the All-League First Team, while Younes Dayekh and Andres Vasquez placed on the Second Team.  Josh Torres earned All-Freshman accolades.

"The recognition of our individual players by our peer coaches is appreciated, especially as competitive as the league was this year.  With the depth of talent in our league, for our four players to be recognized as All-League players is meaningful," Sean Phillips said.  He continued, "Each of the four was built up and supported by their teammates, as they also built up and supported others.  The contributions of everyone on our roster are reflected in the All-League members."
 
Graiber earns First Team honors for the third straight year.  A two-time Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year, Graiber returned from an injury this season to help UIC's back line engineer consecutive shutouts to end the regular season.  He was placed on the MAC Hermann Trophy watch list prior to the season, as one of the candidates for the national player of the year award.  Combined with his second team All-Horizon League selection in 2018, and his All-Freshman nod in 2017, Graiber has made an All-League team in every year of his Flames career.
 
Dayekh has made an immediate impact on UIC's offense as a graduate transfer, and he earned Second Team accolades.  He is the team's leading scorer with seven goals, and had a brace against Wright State.  In UIC's match against Milwaukee, he put six shots on goal to mark the most in a game by any Flame since 2011.  Dayekh also has one assist and leads the team with 15 points.  This is his third career second team all-conference selection.
 
Vasquez has made the most of his first year as the team's starting goalkeeper.  He has played every minute of the season and registered seven shutouts, the most in the Horizon League.  Among the national leaders in shutouts, Vasquez was named Horizon League Defensive Player of the Week twice.  Vasquez is in the top three in the Horizon League in save percentage and goals-against average.  He is an All-Conference performer for the first time.
 
Torres has started three of the last four matches, as his role in UIC's offense has grown.  He scored a highlight-reel goal against regular season champion Oakland, outmaneuvering multiple defenders on his way into the attacking zone.  He tallied the insurance goal in UIC's win over Detroit Mercy, which ended up making the difference in separating the teams in the final standings.  Torres has put six of his twelve total shots on goal.

Graiber joins an elite group of 22 players with three or four career first-team selections.  He is the fifth Flame in that group, the most of any past or current conference school.  This is the fifth straight season that UIC has placed at least one player on each of the first team, second team, and freshman team.

Voting was done by league head coaches, who could not vote for their own players.  Consideration was given to assembling each team by position.

The Flames will begin Horizon League tournament play at Flames Field Sunday against Detroit Mercy.  The match starts a 1:00 p.m.  Admission is free.
 

Horizon League Men's Soccer Award Winners

Player of the Year: Jannis Schmidt, CSU
Offensive Player of the Year: Bojan Kolevski, CSU
Defensive Player of the Year: Thomas M'Barek, CSU
Goalkeeper of the Year: Jonathan Kliewer, DET
Freshman of the Year: Jesse Randall, NKU
Coach of the Year: Eric Pogue, OAK

All-League First Team

Bojan Kolevski (F), CSU
Jannis Schmidt (MF), CSU
Thomas M'Barek (D), CSU
Jake Keldermann (D), MKE
Logan Farrington (F), MKE
Paolo Gratton (MF), MKE
Jesse Randall (F), NKU
Mikey Ketteman (F), OAK
Noah Jensen (MF), OAK
Jacob Graiber (D), UIC
Jonathan Kliewer (GK), DET

All-League Second Team

Pablo Kawecki (MF), CSU
Demetri Pliakos (F), DET
Kyle Bandyk (D), DET
Charlie Braithwaite (D), OAK
Dylan Borczak (F), OAK
Reid Sproat (D), OAK
Ville Ahola (MF), OAK
Younes Dayekh (F), UIC
Harvey Slade (MF), WSU
Reece Allbaugh (F), WSU
Andres Vaquez (GK), UIC

 All-Freshman Team

Adi Vaknin (F), MKE
Gabe Anguil (MF), MKE
Hugo Espejo (MF), MKE
Philip Riewerts (D), MKE
Jesse Randall (F), NKU
Kai Garvey (MF), OAK
Noe Bijoe (D), RMU
Josh Torres (F), UIC
Brock Pickett (MF), WSU
Connor Osterholt (F), WSU
Jonathan Kliewer (GK), DET