Ford, Milligan Tabbed With NCAC Men’s Soccer Awards

Adam Milligan

Graham Ford

The College of Wooster’s Graham Ford was voted North Coast Athletic Conference Coach of the Year by his peers for the first time and seven of his players were selected to the all-conference team, highlighted by Adam Milligan (Orrville, Ohio / Orrville), who was picked as the NCAC Co-Offensive Player of the Year. The league office made its announcement of the 2003 All-NCAC Men’s Soccer Team on Thursday.

Ford, in his ninth season as head coach of the Scots, guided them to a 12-3-3 mark this fall and an NCAC co-championship (8-1-0). Wooster, which has now gone 29-4-6 over its last 39 matches to boost Ford’s career record to 83-62-17, earned the No. 1 seed and hosted the NCAC Tournament for the second year in a row, but fell in the finals to third-seeded Ohio Wesleyan University 2-1.

This marks the second consecutive season, in which Wooster has been home to one of the conference’s top offensive players. Now-sophomore Brian Conaway (Twinsburg, Ohio / Twinsburg), who joined Milligan and junior defender Andrew DeBord (Cincinnati, Ohio / Indian Hill) as the Scots’ representatives on this fall’s All-NCAC First Team, was tabbed the 2002 NCAC Offensive Player of the Year.

Milligan, a junior forward, completed 2003 as the league’s leading scorer, averaging 1.72 points, but shared its top offensive honor with Allegheny College’s Ben Montgomery. Overall, Milligan finished with 14 goals, the most by a Wooster player in over a decade (1992), and three assists for 31 points in 18 games. Milligan had five two-goal games, including a hat trick versus Kenyon College on Oct. 29. For his career, Milligan, with one season left, is tied for fifth in school history in goals (30) and tied for sixth in points (69).

After a slow start, Conaway turned in a 21-point season, scoring nine goals and assisting on three more. His average of 1.16 points per game put him sixth in this year’s NCAC scoring race. Conaway scored five goals over the final five matches, including a hat trick at Hiram College and the Scots’ lone score in their setback to Ohio Wesleyan in the NCAC Tournament championship game. Through two seasons, Conaway has 19 goals and six assists, putting him on pace to finish among Wooster’s top-five all-time scorers.

DeBord, formerly a midfielder, earned his second-straight first-team all-conference mention after anchoring a Scot defense that shutout nine of 18 opponents, including a stretch of seven of eight late in the season. DeBord started all 17 matches he played in and took five shots, while as a team, Wooster limited the opposition to averages of 0.72 goals and 7.61 shots.

Also playing a key role as a defender was junior Chris Sirois (Meriden, Conn. / Choate Rosemary Hall), who the coaches selected to the All-NCAC Second Team. He was the lone player to start all 18 matches and fired six shots on goal, while serving as one of the cornerstones of the backfield (see team stats above).

Scots receiving honorable mention on the all-conference squad included junior midfielder Brian Goche (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Chartiers Valley), senior midfielder Jon Kruse (Savannah, Ohio / Crestview), and junior defender Gerry Ockers (Dublin, Ohio / Dublin Coffman). It marks the second postseason accolade for both Goche and Kruse, who earned second-team and honorable mention recognition, respectively, last fall, while Ockers garnered his first All-NCAC honor.

Goche was a starter in 17 of the 18 matches and made his presence felt on both sides of the field. He did not score a goal on 18 shots, but recorded five assists to finish fifth on the team in scoring for the second year in a row, while also playing a key role defensively (see team stats above).

Kruse, who made a mid-season transition from defender to midfield, and Ockers were Wooster’s other two key components to one of the best defenses in the region (see team stats above). Kruse, who used his 6-4, 190-pound frame to frustrate opponents in the backfield and win headers, started 13 of the 16 matches he played. He registered one assist and nine shots, and had one of the strongest legs on the team as he normally took the Scots’ direct free kicks. Ockers, who was credited with three shots, overcame a serious hand injury to start 15 matches, while playing at one of the fullback spots.