Cayet Unanimous American Defensive Player of the Year; Six Players Earn Postseason Honors

PHILADELPHIA- Six members of the Temple men's soccer team have received post-season honors, as voted on by league coaches. Senior defender Pierre Cayet highlights the awards, as the senior captain has been unanimously named the American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year. He is the first-ever Temple player to earn the honor, and the first Owl to win Defensive Player of the Year in any conference since 2004.

Cayet and forward Sean Karani earned first-team All-AAC honors, while midfielder Jalen Campbell, forward Mike Eijgendaal, and goalkeeper Eoin Gawronski earned second-team All-AAC honors. Gawronski and forward Nigel Griffith were both unanimous All-Rookie selections. The five selections to the All-AAC teams smashes the previous record of three.

Cayet had a standout season leading the Owl backline. The Frenchman played every minute of the 2020-21 season, scoring one goal and earning an assist. Cayet made his mark on defense throughout the season. The two-year captain earned AAC weekly honors four times, the most of any Temple player this season, including winning American Defensive Player of the Week twice. Against No. 2 SMU, he spearheaded an effort that shut down one of the top offenses in the nation and scored the game-sealing penalty kick goal to give Temple its highest-ranked win in program history.

Karani earns first-team All-AAC honors, building on his preseason All-Conference and 2019 All-Rookie selections. The sophomore was dynamic allseason, regularly using his outstanding speed to bend defenses out of position and allowing his teammates to find open space. The forward scored twice and passed for one assist. He was instrumental in Temple's defeat of No. 23 Tulsa, scoring two goals including a particularly impressive play where he shook off two defenders and scored from the top of the box.

Campbell had a breakout season for the Owls. The Brampton, Ontario native won national accolades, including the Topdrawsoccer.com and CollegeSoccerNews.com Teams of the Week for his performance in the season opener at USF. Campbell never left the American top-10 in points or goals during the entire season, finishing ninth in both. He was third on the team in goals (three) and tied for second in assists (two).

Eijgendaal stormed onto the scene this season. The sophomore forward arrived as a transfer from Midland College and made an instant impact. Eijgendaal racked up two goals and two assists in the first five matches of the season. His speed and ball-handling skills were major factors in Temple's late-season scoring surge. The Woerden, Netherlands native scored in each of the Owls' last two games. He struck the golden goal against SMU in the regular-season finale to elevate Temple to a three seed in the AAC Championship.

Gawronski is the first Temple men's soccer player since 2013 to be named to both the All-Conference Team and the All-Rookie Team. After seeing his first collegiate action against USF, Gawronski got his first chance to start against No. 2 SMU. The freshman keeper wowed, garnering AAC Goalkeeper of the Week honors and producing a clean sheet against an offense that was averaging four goals a game. In six starts this season, Gawronski has earned AAC weekly honors three times. The Limerick, Pa. native is ranked third in the conference save percentage (.784) and is fourth in both saves (31) and saves per game (4.14).

Griffith had a standout first season in Cherry and White. After playing sparsely towards the beginning of the season, the freshman saw his playing time begin to rise. On senior night against Tulsa, Griffith earned his first career start and he made the most of it. The Stroudsburg, Pa native was outstanding, scoring his first career goal and dishing out three assists, the most for any single player in an AAC match this season. He scored again the following week against Memphis to put his totals on the season at two goals and three assists.

Temple will be back in action tomorrow against Tulsa in the American Championship semifinals. Kickoff against the Golden Hurricane is at 4 p.m., the game will be streamed on ESPN+.

Offensive Player of the Year
Alex Meinhard, R-Fr., F, Tulsa*

Defensive Player of the Year
Pierre Cayet, Sr., D, Temple*

Co-Midfielders of the Year
Yoni Sorokin, Sr., M, UCF
Knut Ahlander, Jr., M, SMU

Goalkeeper of the Year
Yannik Oettl, Sr., GK, UCF

Rookie of the Year
Alex Meinhard, R-Fr., F, Tulsa

Coaching Staff of the Year
Tulsa

Team Fair Play Award
UCF

First Team All-Conference
GK – Yannik Oettl, Sr., UCF
F – Gino Vivi, So., UCF
F – Sean Karani, So., Temple
F – Alex Meinhard, R-Fr., Tulsa*
M – Yoni Sorokin, Sr., UCF*
M – Josue Monge, Sr., USF
M – Knut Ahlander, Jr., SMU
D – Yanis Leerman, Jr., UCF*
D – Anderson Rosa, Fr., UCF
D – Pierre Cayet, Sr., Temple*
At-Large – Skage Simonsen, Jr., F/M, SMU

Second Team All-Conference
Eoin Gawronski, R-Fr., GK, Temple
Hattabiou Barry, Sr., F, UCF
Michael Chappelear, So., F, Memphis
Sal Mazzaferro, So., D, USF
Papa Ndoye, So., F, SMU
Brandon Terwege, Sr., D, SMU
Jalen Campbell, Jr., M, Temple
Mike Eijgendaal, So., F, Temple
Chase Bromstedt, Sr., M, Tulsa
Mariano Fazio, Jr., D, Tulsa
Henry Sach, Jr., M, Tulsa

All-Rookie Team
Lucca Dourado, Fr., F, UCF
Andrew Lizyness, R-Fr., M, UCF*
Anderson Rosa, Fr., D, UCF*
Oscar Resano, Fr., F, USF*
Brian Schaefer, Fr., M, USF*
Harvey Castro, Fr., M, SMU*
Cole Johnson, Fr., GK, SMU
Eoin Gawronski, R-Fr., GK, Temple*
Nigel Griffith, Fr., F, Temple*
Malik Henry-Scott, Fr., F, Tulsa*
Alex Meinhard, R-Fr., F, Tulsa*

Temple University Athletics

Cayet Unanimous American Defensive Player of the Year; Six Players Earn Postseason Honors

Players Mentioned

Jalen Campbell

Pierre Cayet

Mike Eijgendaal

Eoin Gawronski

Nigel Griffith

Sean Karani

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