Big Ten announces 2023 Men’s Soccer All-Conference teams and awards

ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Big Ten Conference has announced the 2023 Men’s Soccer All-Big Ten Teams and individual honors, according to a vote of the conference’s nine head coaches.

Penn State collected four awards as Peter Mangione and Femi Awodesu were named Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, respectively, while Kris Shakes was named Goalkeeper of the Year and Jeff Cook Coach of the Year. Maryland’s Laurence Wootton was selected as Midfielder of the Year, while Maryland’s Kimani Stewart-Baynes collected Freshman of the Year honors.

Mangione earned his second Offensive Player of the Year accolade (2021) after leading the Big Ten with 22 points and nine goals. The third Penn State player to receive the honor, Mangione is the first player to earn two Offensive Player of the Year awards.

Wootton also collects his second consecutive Midfielder of the Year honor and joins Indiana’s Tanner Thompson (2015, 2016) as the award’s only repeat winners. Wootton tied for the Buckeyes’ lead with eight points and four goals, including a pair of game-winning markers. Wootton also becomes just the sixth player named to the All-Big Ten First team four times, joining a group that includes his Ohio State coach Brian Maisonneuve.

Awodesu becomes the Nittany Lions’ first Defensive Player of the Year after anchoring a defensive unit that surrendered just 0.75 goals per game. The Philadelphia, Pa. native added three goals to the Penn State offensive attack, tied for second on the team.

Shakes provided the backstop to the Penn State defensive effort, as the fifth-year player tied for the Big Ten lead with seven clean sheets and finished second with a .759 goals against average. Shakes becomes the first Penn State student-athlete to earn the accolade since Andrew Wolverton in 2013.

Stewart-Baynes is the second Terrapin named Big Ten Freshman of the Year, joining Joshua Bolma in 2021. The Toronto, Canada native made an immediate impact, pairing a goal and an assist in his second collegiate contest, before finishing the season with a team-high seven assists and 13 points.

Cook earns his second Big Ten Coach of the Year honor in his six seasons in Happy Valley. The fourth Penn State coach to earn the award, Cook led the Nittany Lions to a share of the Big Ten championship, the program’s fifth regular season crown and second in the last three years.

Awodesu, Mangione, Shakes, and Wootton also earned spots on the All-Big Ten First Team, with Awodesu, Mangione and Wootton as unanimous selections. Joining them on First Team are Indiana’s Joey Maher, Patrick McDonald, and Samuel Sarver, Michigan State’s Jonathan Stout, Northwestern’s Collin McCamy, Nigel Prince, and Justin Weiss, and Rutgers’ Jackson Temple.

The Big Ten also recognized 14 Sportsmanship Award honorees. The student-athletes chosen are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. These student-athletes must also be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting.

The 2023 Big Ten Men’s Soccer Tournament kicks off Friday with four quarterfinal matches at campus sites around the conference, with each match broadcast live on BTN’s digital subscription service, B1G+ (more details available at bigtenplus.com).

Winners will advance to Wednesday’s semifinal round at the sites of the highest remaining seeds in each half of the bracket, while the final is scheduled for Sunday, November 12, at the highest remaining seed.

Both semifinals and the championship match will be televised live on BTN and the FOX Sports app. The winner of the 2023 Big Ten Tournament will earn the conference’s automatic berth into this year’s NCAA Tournament.

The complete list of 2023 Big Ten Men’s Soccer Postseason honorees can also be found below.