WILMINGTON, North Carolina – UNCW men's soccer standout Jake Shannon headlined eight Seahawks to earn All-Coastal Athletic Association Postseason Honors as the league's Co-Defender of the Year following a vote of the league's 10 head coaches.
Shannon, also named to the All-CAA First Team, is joined by several Seahawks to garner year-end honors, including All-CAA Second-Teamer Osei Gyamfi and four All-CAA Third Teamers: Christian Acevedo, Jack Clarkson, Ethan Newsome and Gavin Carmichael.
Freshman Benjamin Gooding and Amare Lucas rounded out an impressive UNCW postseason haul with CAA All-Rookie notices.
Shannon, who scored a career-high three goals, becomes the Seahawks' fourth CAA Defender of the Year following Indy Smith (2008), Jacob VanCompernolle (2014) and Danny Reynolds (2019). The Apex, N.C., native is the third Seahawk to earn four straight All-CAA honors after earning Third-Team distinctions the previous three seasons.
A durable defender, Shannon has started all possible 68 games during his career and played all but one minute for the Seahawks since joining the program in 2022. The 6-2, 175-pound team captain has helped UNCW to three CAA Tournaments, including last year's dramatic run to the CAA Finals, while anchoring a backline that has produced 24 shutouts to date.
Shannon is fourth in program history with 6,129 minutes played.
Gyamfi, a CAA All-Rookie performer one year ago, continued his rise as a sophomore with three goals and three assists. The 5-9 midfielder/forward, who scored goals in three straight matches in mid-September, increased his shot on goal accuracy by 13 percent across a career-high 38 attempts.
Acevedo proved to be one of the top reserves in the league for the second straight year with a career-high five goals, including a game-tying penalty kick at then No. 1 Wake Forest and the game-winner vs. Mercer. All nine of the Orlando, Fla., product's career scores have come in relief, including his first career brace at home against Campbell.
Clarkson, a team captain, earned his first All-CAA postseason accolades after a second-straight season of being one of the top shot creators in the league. The Houston, Texas native has a team-high four assists (10 in the last two years) and notched the game-winner, the first of his career, in a 5-0 rout against William & Mary.
Newsome made his second appearance on the CAA's Third Team after earning honors as a freshman in 2022. The 5-8 midfielder has scored at least two goals in all four seasons and produced multiple assists in each of the last three campaigns. Newsome capped a memorable comeback in his final home game with the late-game-winning goal against the Camels.
Carmichael garnered All-CAA accolades in his first year with the Seahawks. The Drexel transfer scored a goal and achieved two assists while playing 1,331 minutes across 15 starts on defense.
Gooding and Lucas make it 26 All-Rookie performers for UNCW under Head Coach Aidan Heaney. It marks the seventh time the Seahawks have had multiple All-Rookie selections in the same season.
UNCW begins the 2025 CAA Tournament on Thursday at Campbell at 6 p.m. It extends the Seahawks' league-record tournament appearances to 29.
2025 CAA Men's Soccer Major Awards
Player of the Year: Laurie Goddard, Hofstra
Midfielder of the Year: Laurie Goddard, Hofstra
Defender of the Year: Jake Shannon, UNCW / Jamie Orson, Stony Brook
Rookie of the Year: Dominik Renz, Elon
Coach of the Year: Richard Nuttall, Hofstra
All-CAA First Team
|
Name
|
School
|
Class
|
Position
|
Hometown
|
|
Daniel Burko
|
Hofstra
|
Sr.
|
F
|
Lovenstad, Norway
|
|
Matt Lenert
|
Charleston
|
Jr.
|
F
|
Falls Church, Va.
|
|
Filipe Matos
|
Campbell
|
Jr.
|
F
|
Riachos, Portugal
|
|
Finlay Oliver
|
Stony Brook
|
Jr.
|
F
|
Oneonta, N.Y.
|
|
Marco Wright
|
Campbell
|
Jr.
|
F
|
Gastonia, N.C.
|
|
Evans Dapaah
|
Campbell
|
Jr.
|
M
|
Accra, Ghana
|
|
Laurie Goddard
|
Hofstra
|
Sr.
|
M/F
|
London, England
|
|
Ethan Roberts
|
Campbell
|
Sr.
|
M
|
Dripping Springs, Texas
|
|
Lilian Fichelle
|
Campbell
|
So.
|
D
|
Attiches, France
|
|
Jamie Orson
|
Stony Brook
|
Gr.
|
D
|
Atlanta, Ga.
|
|
Daniel Santos Rosa
|
Campbell
|
D
|
D
|
Heidelberg, Germany
|
|
Jake Shannon
|
UNCW
|
Sr.
|
D
|
Apex, N.C.
|
|
Jackson Leavitt
|
Elon
|
Gr.
|
GK
|
Allen, Texas
|
All-CAA Second Team
|
Name
|
School
|
Class
|
Position
|
Hometown
|
|
Ben Bagshaw
|
Charleston
|
So.
|
F
|
London, England
|
|
Osei Gyamfi
|
UNCW
|
So.
|
F/M
|
Kumasi, Ghana
|
|
Dominik Renz
|
Elon
|
R-So.
|
F
|
Ulm, Germany
|
|
Lotem Ben Dov
|
Campbell
|
M
|
M
|
Pekah Tikva, Israel
|
|
Jakob Friedman
|
Monmouth
|
Sr.
|
M
|
Nesconset, N.Y.
|
|
Connor Mucchetti
|
Elon
|
Sr.
|
M
|
Bethesda, Md.
|
|
Noah Gold
|
Charleston
|
Sr.
|
D
|
Germantown, Md.
|
|
Charlie Kitch
|
Elon
|
Jr.
|
D
|
Medford, N.J.
|
|
Carlos Levy
|
Elon
|
R-Jr.
|
D
|
Mexico City, Mexico
|
|
Majaliwa Msabaha
|
Elon
|
Sr.
|
D/M
|
Randers, Denmark
|
|
Max Leviton
|
Campbell
|
So.
|
GK
|
Colleyville, Texas
|
All-CAA Third Team
|
Name
|
School
|
Class
|
Position
|
Hometown
|
|
Christian Acevedo
|
UNCW
|
So.
|
F
|
Orlando, Fla.
|
|
Caleb Danquah
|
Stony Brook
|
Sr.
|
F
|
Brooklyn, N.Y.
|
|
Martin Kozak
|
Elon
|
Jr.
|
F/M
|
Santiago, Chile
|
|
Stefano Campisi
|
Hofstra
|
Gr.
|
M
|
Milan, Italy
|
|
Jack Clarkson
|
UNCW
|
Sr.
|
M
|
Houston, Texas
|
|
Ethan Newsome
|
UNCW
|
Sr.
|
M
|
Myrtle Beach, S.C.
|
|
John Shannon III
|
Drexel
|
Fr.
|
M
|
Houston, Texas
|
|
Ezra White
|
Charleston
|
Sr.
|
M/F
|
Clemson, S.C.
|
|
Gavin Carmichael
|
UNCW
|
So.
|
D
|
Baltimore, Md.
|
|
Jake Roberts
|
Campbell
|
Jr.
|
D
|
Huntersville, N.C.
|
|
Finn van den Berg
|
Drexel
|
Jr.
|
D
|
Heerenveen, Netherlands
|
|
Tobias Jahn
|
Northeastern
|
Gr.
|
GK
|
Owen, Germany
|
CAA All-Rookie Team
|
Name
|
School
|
Position
|
Hometown
|
|
Kristijan Bandur
|
Campbell
|
F
|
Trzin, Slovenia
|
|
Damen Burney
|
William & Mary
|
D
|
Leesburg, Va.
|
|
Ryan Farr
|
Stony Brook
|
F
|
Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
|
|
Samuel Francou
|
Hofstra
|
M
|
Melbourne, Austrailia
|
|
Ronnie Garcia
|
Campbell
|
D
|
Carollton, Texas
|
|
Benjamin Gooding
|
UNCW
|
D
|
Raleigh, N.C.
|
|
Amare Lucas
|
UNCW
|
F
|
Apex, N.C.
|
|
John Shannon III
|
Drexel
|
M
|
Houston, Texas
|
|
Dominik Renz
|
Elon
|
F
|
Ulm, Germany
|
|
Dan Toulson
|
Charleston
|
D/M
|
Harrogate, England
|
