Dec. 2, 2009
PHILADELPHIA - Men's soccer junior Ryan Richter (Southampton, PA/William Tennent) was named the Soccer Six Player of the Year and freshman Jeff Pio (Warminster, PA/William Tennent) earned Co-Rookie of the Year honors, announced at Tuesday night's Soccer Six banquet.
Richter led all players in the six city schools in points, goals and assists. He was named to the Soccer Six All-Star Team for the first time in his career, and was voted by the six head coaches as the city's top player.
Richter scored seven goals and helped on seven others for 21 points on the season to help the Explorers triple their win total from 2008. He earned City of Pittsburgh All-Tournament team honors for leading the squad to two shut-outs, including scoring the game-winning goal in a 2-0 win over Pitt. He also posted three 4-point games in contests with Marist (1g, 2a), Richmond (2g, 0a) and Saint Joseph's (1g, 2a).
Richter is also an academic stand-out and was named to the CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District team for his efforts in the classroom as a marketing major.
Pio also picked up the first major honor of his career as he shared Rookie of the Year honors with Villanova's Kyle Soroka. Pio scored three goals and assisted on three others for nine points in his rookie campaign. The center midfielder took 29 shots for third on the team. He earned the first start of his career at Adelphi on Sept. 20, and started every game he appeared in thereafter.
Also earning distinction at the Soccer Six banquet was senior Ryan Tadley (Soccer Six All-Star) and Kyle Quigley (Player of the Week).
