Daniel becomes third Endicott men's soccer player to win Rookie of the Year

Posted: Oct 27, 2012

2012 All-CCC Men's Soccer Team

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) named the six major award winners and 37 all-conference honorees on this season's All-CCC Men's Soccer Team and Endicott's freshman forward Jordan Daniel (Canton, Conn.) was recognized as the CCC Rookie of the Year.

Daniel becomes the third Endicott men's soccer player to win Rookie of the Year honors, joining Colin Doody (2009) and Eric Cheli (1998) as the previous winners. Daniel tallied a conference-high 12 goals and 28 points in his freshman campaign, while adding four assists. The forward scored six game-winning goals, three of which came against conference opponents Gordon (October 3^rd), Curry (October 6^th), and Salve Regina (October 20^th). Daniel was also recognized listed with three other CCC forwards on the All-CCC First Team.

Joining Daniel on the All-CCC Team are seniors Kevin Gnecco (North Hampton, N.H.) and Daniel Higgins (South Kingstown, R.I.). Gnecco, an All-CCC Second Team Defender, led a Gulls backline that included senior Michael MacLeay (Epping, N.H.), sophomore Jed Magnusson (Kingston, N.H.), and freshman Alex Tonsberg (Westport, Conn.). Endicott sported a 1.09 goals against average, ranking them second behind top seed Roger Williams (1.08) in that category. Gnecco scored one goal on the season, in an 8-0 rout of Rivier back on September 5^th.

Higgins, who was placed on the All-CCC Honorable Mention Team, finished the regular season with an 8-3-3 overall record between the posts. The goalkeeper had overall goals against average of 1.23 (1.16 in conference matches), 61 saves, a .782 save percentage, and two shutouts of the season. His lone conference shutout came in a 1-0, double overtime victory over Salve Regina just one week ago.

Daniels, Gnecco, and Higgins are all first time All-CCC honorees.

Endicott enters the CCC Tournament as the #3 seed and hosts #6 Gordon at 11:00 am this morning at Endicott Stadium in the quarterfinals. The winner will move on to face the winner of #7 Eastern Nazarene at #2 Salve Regina. The Gulls beat Gordon 5-2 in Wenham earlier in October thanks in large part to two goals and one assist from Daniel.

Fans can follow the game live either via our live stats platform or our UStream webcast of the match.