Eight Named to Men's Soccer All-AMCC Team; Scalise, Ralph Earn Major Honors

ERIE, Pa. – Penn State Behrend men's soccer goalie Anthony Scalise was named Co-Defensive Player of the Year, while head coach Chris Ralph earned Coach of the Year honors and seven other players landed on the All-Conference Team.

Scalise, who also was named to the First Team All-AMCC, posted a 6-1 record in conference play. He only allowed five goals in seven games for a 0.74 goals-against average. Scalise made 11 saves and posted 1.5 shutouts. Overall, he leads with a 11-4-2 record with three shutouts. Scalise is second in goals-against average (0.92) and is third in save percentage (.773) in 17 contests. He is also tied for fourth in total saves (51).

Ralph is earning the honor for the first time in his career. He mentored the Lions to the AMCC Regular-Season Championship with a 7-1 conference mark. Behrend finished the season 12-4-2.

Joining Scalise on the first team is Owen Petersen, Reilly Nickles, and Brock Kiefer. Andrew Lucas was selected to the second team, while Cole Thomas, Daniel Battista and Jac Caputo were chosen to the third team.

Nickles started seven out of eight conference games, ranking third in the AMCC with five goals and three assists for 13 points. He converted a penalty kick and tallied one game-winning goal. Overall, Nickles led the team and was fifth in the AMCC with eight goals and six assists for 22 points. He also tallied three game winners in 16 games.

Petersen ranked second in conference play with 15 points. He scored six goals and dished out three assists in six conference games. Petersen scored a goal in each of the final four conference contests. Overall, Petersen tied for first on the team with eight goals to go with four assists for 20 points. The junior posted two goals in a 3-1 win over Mt. Aloysius and Alfred State.

Kiefer started seven of the eight AMCC contests, scoring one goal and adding three assists as a defender for five points. He anchored the defense that allowed just five goals in eight games. Overall, Kiefer was instrumental in the teams 0.94 goals-against average and four shutouts.

Alongside Kiefer in the back were Lucas and Battista.

Lucas and Battista started in all eight AMCC contests. Lucas scored one goal and Battista added an assist. Both helped the Lions rank first in the AMCC for allowing just 16 goals in 18 contests.

Caputo, a defensive midfielder, recorded one goal and three assists for five points in conference play. He converted only penalty kick taken against Penn State Altoona. Caputo tallied all his points in AMCC games. Caputo also aided in the dominant defense (0.94 goals-against average) with four shutouts.

Thomas started six out of the eight AMCC contests, posting two goals for four assists. He scored the game-winning goal against La Roche. Overall, Thomas finished the season with  three goals for six points.