Seven OCU soccer players recently won individual Sooner Athletic Conference awards and made the all-SAC teams.
The 2020-21 all-SAC soccer teams were made up of players within the conference who gave the best performances in their position throughout the season. There are four all-SAC soccer teams in total, with the men’s and women’s divisions each making up individual teams. 14 players throughout the conference were selected for the first team, and 15 players were selected for the second team.
Lucas de Freitas, junior forward, won SAC newcomer of the year and made the men’s first team. Danilo Vilani, junior goalkeeper, won goalkeeper of the year and made the men’s first team. Sofia Carvajal Granados, junior forward, won newcomer of the year and made the women’s second team. Madi Caputo, junior midfielder, also made the women’s second team. Guilherme Grave, senior forward, Tommaso Belli, freshman forward, and Harvey Paul, junior defender, all made the men’s second team.
Billy Martin, head soccer coach, said he was proud to learn three team members earned individual awards.
“It was very exciting,” Martin said. “I think they all earned their awards and worked very hard. It makes you proud as a coach that they’re getting recognized for their hard work.”
Freitas said he was surprised to win the award.
“I was really surprised because I didn’t know there were those types of awards,” Freitas said.
Freitas said he is grateful to have a supportive team.
“I said thank you to most of the guys on the team because I could see they were really happy for me, and it was nice to have their support,” he said.
Martin said Freitas was one of the men’s team’s most important goal scorers.
“He is a very special player,” Martin said. “He scored some big-time goals for us.”
Martin said Carjaval Granados is an asset to the women’s team.
“She’s a very good attacking player,” Martin said. “We were very good defensively and good in the midfield. We just didn’t have enough goal scorers, and she’s come in and got us some extra goals we needed.”
Martin said Vilani surpassed expectations as starting men’s goalkeeper.
“Danilo played behind a really good goalkeeper, so we weren’t sure how he would be as a starter, but he has come in and exceeded our expectations and was a good leader from the backline,” Martin said.
Vilani said he credits his team for his success.
“I was surprised and excited, but soccer is a team sport that takes all 11 players for us to win and keep clean sheets,” Vilani said.
Martin said his sights are now set on the 2021-2022 season after both teams were eliminated from the SAC soccer tournament.
“It’s great for the student-athletes that they get those awards, but our number one goal is to win the SAC conference game and make it to the national tournament,” Martin said.
Vilani said he hopes to advance to the national championship tournament next season.
“My goal is to win the championships,” Vilani said. “The way we got eliminated was painful, and there’s a lot we can learn from our mistakes and finish strong next season.”
For more sports updates, fans can visit the OCUSports website, and the MediaOCU sports page.
Well done!