Sangamon Sun

Illinois College's men's soccer team has been recognized with several postseason honors by the Midwest Conference. The team, which won the regular season championship, saw multiple members receive accolades.

Senior Albert Nimako was named the conference's Defensive Player of the Year. Junior Reed Rogers received the title of Newcomer of the Year, while head coach Evan Philpott was honored as Coach of the Year.

In addition to these individual awards, three other players were named to the first team all-conference. These include attackers Tyler Lunning and Toby Ybarra, along with goalkeeper Owen Macias.

Defenders Jives Efemini and Brock Kennell were selected for the second team. Lunning led Illinois College in scoring with 11 goals and earned 23 points over the season. He also received recognition as MWC Offensive Performer of the Week on October 17. Rogers contributed seven goals and a team-high six assists, while Nimako recorded seven goals and three assists, earning Performer of the Week on October 30. Ybarra added two goals to his name this season.

Macias achieved 40 saves and maintained a 1.32 goals-against average throughout the season, securing seven wins including all five Midwest Conference victories.

Efemini scored three times during this period, while Kennell started every one of their 18 matches on defense.

Coach Philpott became Illinois College's all-time winningest soccer coach in September with a total of 36 victories. Under his leadership, Illinois College secured its first conference regular season title in school history.

The Blueboys concluded their season with an overall record of 12-5-3 and a conference record of 5-1-2.