PEMBROKE – Former baseball standout Trey Jacobs was decorated with both Male Newcomer and Male Student-Athlete of the Year accolades, while soccer goalkeeper Gina Ryan raked in Female Student-Athlete of the Year laurels, as the UNC Pembroke athletics department welcomed back its nearly 400 student-athletes on Monday evening inside the Givens Performing Arts Center (GPAC).
A presentation by John C. Sterling, a United States Army veteran, master resiliency trainer and Peach Belt Conference (PBC) behavioral health consultant, highlighted the night for the annual event which was sponsored by Wing Co. and attended by all student-athletes, coaches and department staff.
Soccer forward Alexis Pittman was lauded with Female Newcomer of the Year honors, while soccer head coach
Lars Andersson picked up the Dan Kenney Coach of the Year crown. The awards put a wrap on the 2017-18 Golden Braves program which was held in April at Lumbee Guaranty Bank Court.
Jacobs, who inked a minor league contract with Major League Baseball's (MLB) Colorado Rockies earlier this month, finished with a Peach Belt Conference-best .417 (96-for-230) batting average that complemented 41 extra-base hits (11 HR), 79 RBI and 60 runs scored. The Hope Mills native shattered the PBC record for doubles (28), while also establishing new program marks for hits and RBI. He also led the Braves with 29 multiple-hit and 20 multiple RBI performances. He was named a consensus first team all-American by three different organizations.
Ryan, a two-time All-PBC and two-time all-region selection, turned in a 2017 campaign that saw her lead all PBC goalkeepers in games played (21), minutes played (1,857), goals against (11), goals against average (0.53), save percentage (.892) and shutouts (11). The rising junior ranked eighth in all of Division II last season in save percentage, 15th in minutes and 16th in goals against average. Ryan has logged 18 career shutouts in 32 games in which she has played from start to finish and already sits fourth in the UNCP record book in career shutouts. Her career goals against average and save percentage currently rank first in program history as well.
Coming off of his 17
th year at the helm of the soccer program, Andersson led his squad to 12-4-1 record in the regular season and a PBC title thanks to a trio of 1-0 victories in the tournament. The Black & Gold was on the wrong end of a 1-0 affair in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament against Queens. UNCP was making its third NCAA postseason appearance since the program's inception in 2001.
