Skroce, Bubonja, Fleak recognized as <i>College Soccer News</i> announces postseason honors

Dec. 11, 2006

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

Indianapolis, Ind. -- Another day, another set of awards for Horizon League men's soccer. The latest accolades came Monday (Dec. 11) as College Soccer News announced its All-America and All-Freshman teams, with University of Illinois at Chicago senior forward Tonci Skroce named to the publication's Third-Team All-America squad. Teammate Jovan Bubonja and Wright State University forward Braden Fleak earned Second-Team All-Freshman recognition.

For Skroce, it marks the second All-America honor in a week as the 2006 Horizon League Player of the Year was a Second-Team choice by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) last week. Skroce netted seven goals (including five match-winners) and seven assists while leading the Flames to their first loop title since 2000. The Flame striker earned First-Team All-Horizon League honors for the second time in his career, adding this year's award to his 2005 citation.

Bubonja ranked fourth in the nation with his 0.373 goals-against average. Bubonja allowed only eight goals (never more than one in any match) while stopping 76 shots in his 1,930 minutes of play for a .905 save percentage which ranked third in Division I. The Flame netminder posted a school-record ten shutouts in 2006, earning the League's Goalkeeper of the Year award and First-Team All-League honors and helping UIC to a spot among the nation's top 25 teams for most of the season.

UIC reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament while posting a 13-3-5 record that included a 2-1 triumph (Sept. 8) over a UC Santa Barbara team that went on to win the national championship. Bubonja anchored a UIC defense which led the nation with a goals-against average of 0.36 which led the nation and ranked fifth in NCAA Division I history.

Fleak finished second in the nation among freshmen and 19th overall with his 1.61 points-per-game aveage, collecting 13 goals with three assists for 29 points in 18 appearances. He also ranked 14th in goals per game (0.72) while winning the League's Newcomer of the Year honor in addition to Third-Team NSCAA All-Great Lakes Region recognition. Among Horizon League players, only University of Wisconsin-Green Bay senior forward Joshua Okoampa (14 goals, 34 points) had a more productive offensive season than Fleak, who joined Bubonja as the only freshmen on the First-Team All-Horizon League squad in 2006.

College Soccer News has focused on Division I men's soccer since 2000. The internet publication's First-Team All-America group features five members of the NSCAA's top unit, including the Univerity of Notre Dame's Joseph Lapira and Boston College's Charlie Davies on the forward line and defenders Julius James from the University of Connecticut, Jay Needham of Southern Methodist University and Andrew Boyens of the University of New Mexico. West Virginia University forward Jarrod Smith, UC Santa Barbara defender Andy Iro and University of Maryland goalkeeper Chris Seitz also made CSN's top group, along with the midfield trio of Duke University's Michael Videira, the University of Virginia's Nico Colaluca and UNC Greensboro's Scott Jones.

For more information on the College Soccer News awards, log on to www.collegesoccernews.com.

Note: The College Soccer News All-America and All-Freshman teams can be found in the PDF version of this release.