Grace College’s men’s soccer team was honored with a number of national and regional awards following a successful 2015 season.
The Lancers, celebrating their 50th season of collegiate competition, produced a 14-7-3 record. Matt Hotchkin coached Grace to its most wins in a season since 1983, advancing to the NCCAA National Championships for the third time in five years. Hotchkin was named the NSCAA Region Coach of the Year — one of seven NAIA coaches honored by the NSCAA.
At the national level, Justin Festa and Robbie Barnhill were named Second Team NCCAA All-American. Kyle Hamlin was Third Team NCCAA All-American, and Jon Sands and Nakilee Weni were honorable mention for NCCAA All-American.
Festa also earned a spot on the 2015 NCCAA All-Tournament Team.
At the regional level, Grace was given three spots on the NCCAA Midwest All-Region First Team (Hamlin, Festa, Barnhill) and three spots on the Second Team (Weni, Sands, Daniel Smith).
In the classroom, Grace had four NAIA Scholar-Athletes: Barnhill, Festa, Hamlin and Jon Christensen. Additionally, Barnhill and Hamlin were awarded on the prestigious CoSIDA First Team Academic All-America® list.
The Lancers ended the season in the “Receiving Votes” section of the NAIA Postseason Top 25 Poll. Click here to view the entire poll.