Andrew Winters (right) of St. Norbert College has been named the Midwest Conference’s 2007 Sportsmanship Award Winner. The MWC Awards and Recognition Committee annually selects a Sportsmanship Award Winner who consistently demonstrates good sportsmanship and ethical behavior throughout their intercollegiate participation, while also demonstrating good citizenship outside of the sports setting.

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St. Norbert senior Andrew Winters (right) has been selected for an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, recently announced for fall sports student-athletes. Winters, owns a 3.98 grade point average with a double major in mathematics and economics. The NCAA awards 174 postgraduate scholarships annually, 87 for men and 87 for women .

A three-time Academic All-Conference selection and two-time COSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American, Winters tallied 15 goals and 26 assists for 56 points on a men’s soccer squad that went a combined 63-11-4 during his career. He is currently in his senior season on the Green Knights men’s tennis team and has combined to win over 70 singles and doubles matches.

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The Grinnell and Lawrence men's and women's soccer teams have been honored with the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Team Academic Award.

The award goes to NCAA Division I, II, III and NAIA teams that earned a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher during the 2005-06 academic year. Lawrence and Grinnell were two of 52 schools in the nation to have both their men’s and women’s programs honored.

The Grinnell and Lawrence women were among 234 women’s teams honored, while the Pioneer and Viking men were among 81 men’s teams honored.

Lake Forest College Athletic Director Jackie Slaats announced on December 22 that Derek Niepomnik (right) has accepted the position as the Foresters Head Men’s Soccer Coach. Niepomnik is just the seventh head coach in the program’s 46-year history and only the third since 1978.

Niepomnik is currently the College Assistance Program Coordinator and Under-23 College Developmental Program Director for the FC Barrington Soccer Club. He implemented the under-23 program and served as its head men’s coach and assistant women’s coach. He has also been the head coach for high school aged teams since 2005.

Prior to joining the staff at the FC Barrington Soccer Club, Niepomnik was the head men’s soccer coach at Benedictine University for three years, beginning in 2002. He earned Northern Illinois Iowa Coach of the Year honors in 2002. He was also an assistant men’s coach at Northern Illinois University in 2001 and at St. Bonaventure University in 2000. In addition, he was the assistant women’s coach at Northern Illinois University in 1996 and 1997 and at the University of Cincinnati the following year.

Niepomnik played four years at NCAA Division I Northern Illinois University and graduated from the school in 1996. He was then a three-year starter at defender and midfielder for the Rockford Raptors of the United States Interregional Soccer League (USISL – D3 Pro).

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Bonifas was named the 2006 MWC Player of the Year after leading the conference in shots (72), goals (15) and points (36) in 2006. He also tallied six assists, the third-best total in the league, while helping St. Norbert win its fifth consecutive MWC tourney title.

In 2006, Findley (left) led Beloit to an 8-1 mark in league play and the school’s first MWC Championship since 1974. He recorded team-highs in shots (53), goals (13) and points (31).

Prouty (right) was one of the keys to a resurgent Grinnell squad in 2006, as the Pioneers qualified for the MWC tourney behind a defense that failed to allow a goal in six contests.

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St. Norbert senior forward Nick Bonifas (right), the 2006 MWC Player of the Year, was named to the second team of the D3kicks.com Central Region Team. Bonifas led the MWC in shots (72), goals (15) and points (36) in 2006. He also tallied six assists, the third-best total in the league. Bonifas led the Green Knights to a 15-3-2 overall record and a fourth-straight MWC tourney title during his senior season.

D3kicks.com All-Region Teams

Winters owns a 3.98 grade point average with a double major in mathematics and economics and was the only Midwest Conference athlete named to the College Division team, which includes players nationally from NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA schools.

A first-team All-Midwest Conference selection this fall, Winters led the Green Knights to a 15-3-2 record and a spot in the second round of the NCAA Division III Tournament before succumbing to eventual Elite Eight qualifier Dominican. Winters finished the season with three goals and six assists for 12 points.

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Carroll, the 2006 conference tourney runner-up, placed a league-high three players on the 2006 Midwest Conference Men’s Soccer All-Conference First Team. MWC champion Beloit and MWC tourney champion St. Norbert each had two selections, as did Grinnell and Ripon. Lawrence had one student-athlete picked on the 12-player first team. The Green Knights’ Nick Bonifas (right) was named the MWC Player of the Year, while Carroll’s Rick Mobley and Beloit’s Tim Schmiechen shared the Coach of the Year award.

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St. Norbert (15-2-2) advanced to the the second round of the NCAA Men’s Soccer Tournament when the Green Knights topped the University of Chicago 4-3 on penalty kicks following a 0-0 tie through two overtimes. The match was played on the campus of Dominican University in River Forest, Ill., where the host school won 6-0 over Aurora to set up a rematch with St. Norbert at 1 p.m. on Sunday, November 12. Dominican (19-1-1) defeated St. Norbert 2-0 in River Falls on October 1, although the Stars lone loss this season came at the hands of Chicago.

After both squads scored on their first penalty kicks, St. Norbert sophomore goalkeeper Mike Rietveld, who made three saves in regulation, stopped the Maroons second attempt. The Green Knights followed with three consecutive scores before Rietveld turned the Maroons away again to end the match one round early.

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Lake Forest College head men’s soccer coach Ed Kositzki (right) announced his retirement on November 2 after 13 years with the program.

Kositzki finished his career with a 137-74-9 overall record and a 82-32-6 mark in Midwest Conference play. His Foresters captured league championships in 1995, 1996, and 2001 and qualified for the four-team conference tournament in all but three of his seasons. He was named the league’s Coach of the Year following his first two titles and again in 2000.

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St. Norbert extended its reign over the Midwest Conference Men’s Soccer Tournament to five years at Beloit on Saturday (Nov. 4) and the Green Knights will make their fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance after receiving the conference’s automatic tourney bid with the win.

St. Norbert will travel to the campus of Dominican University in River Forest, Ill., for a first round NCAA Tournament matchup against the University of Chicago on Saturday, November 11 at 1:30 p.m.

The Maroons, who are ranked one spot ahead of St. Norbert in the NSCAA and D3kicks.com Central Region rankings, defeated MWC Champion Beloit 2-0 on October 10 in their only head-to-head match against an MWC school this season.

The winner of the match takes on the winner of Dominican vs. Aurora.

Game Notes - St. Norbert

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The venue has changed, but the reward remains the same. For first time since 2001, the Midwest Conference Men’s Soccer Tournament will not be held on the St. Norbert campus. Beloit ended the Green Knights four-year MWC championship reign this season as the Bucs won their first MWC title since 1974, earning the top seed and hosting duties for the tourney on Friday and Saturday, November 3-4. The winner of the MWC tourney will receive the conference’s automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.

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St. Norbert College senior midfielder Andrew Winters (right) and defender Amir St. Clair (left) have been named to the 2006 College Division Academic All-District V men's soccer team as sponsored by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) and ESPN The Magazine. Winters owns a 3.98 grade point average with a double major in mathematics and economics, while St. Clair has a 3.88 grade point average majoring in religious studies. The pair helped the Green Knights to a 13-2-1 regular-season record and an 8-1 mark in the Midwest Conference.

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The Beloit men’s soccer team clinched the 2006 Midwest Conference Championship and the top seed/hosting duties for the 2006 MWC Tournament with a 1-0 victory over Monmouth on Sunday, October 22. The title is the Bucs first since sharing the league crown with Lake Forest in 1974 and the fourth overall in school history. The Bucs finished conference play with an 8-1 mark this season.

Beloit will host the four-team MWC Tournament on November 3 and 4. Tim Schmiechen’s team last appeared in the MWC tourney in 2004, where they fell to St. Norbert, 2-1, in the tourney finals. The winner of the 2006 MWC Tournament receives the conference’s automatic bid to the 2006 NCAA Tournament.

Beloit’s Michael Findley (right) was named to the D3Kicks.com National team of the Week one day after being named the Midwest Conference Offensive Performer of the Week. The senior forward scored two goals in the Bucs 3-1 victory over St. Norbert last week, which ended the Green Knights 28-match MWC unbeaten streak. Findley also added an assist in a 2-1 double overtime victory over MWC foe Carroll.

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One day after being named the Midwest Conference Defensive Performer of the Week, Lawrence’s Chris Carlson (right) received national recognition. D3kicks.com named Carlson, a sophomore defender, to its National Team of the Week. Carlson was a key component in holding Luther and St. Scholastica to five combined shots on goal in a pair of 2-0 Viking victories at the Luther College Invitational. Through three games, the unbeaten Vikings have yet to allow a goal.

D3kicks.com Team of the Week

Dale Rhodes' (right) club has won four straight MWC titles and received eight of the 10 possible first-place votes in the poll.

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Perry, who will also serve as director of intramural programs, comes to Monmouth from Rockford College , where he was in the process of reviving a program with low participation.

Perry started his coaching career at Rochester and also served as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Indiana University . He left Rochester to serve as head coach at St. Bonaventure from 1989-94, and he also coached Wabash College from 2000-04. Along the way, Perry has also served as an Olympic Development Program (ODP) coach in New York and Indiana .

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