PORTLAND, Ore. – For the first time since joining the Great Northwest Athletic Conference in 2007, three Montana State University Billings men's soccer players earned first-team all-GNAC honors in an announcement made by the league office Tuesday afternoon. Samuele Folla, Shantik Bedrosian, and Jessy Martin were all distinguished for the honor. Luca Battistotti was also named second team all-GNAC while Yaniss Aka, Cole Hage, and Andres Perez were honorable mentions. To cap it off, Martin was recognized as the GNAC freshman of the year as the team's starting goalkeeper.
 
"We are really happy for our players to receive those awards," said MSUB head coach Thomas Chameraud. "I think it's a reflection of their hard work on the field, and I am happy to see that our fellow coaches recognized our players. Shantik, Samuele, and Jessy had good seasons and were key players for us. Jessy getting freshman of the year award is well deserved. He had a really good season, and we know that he can even do better so it's very promising for the future. Luca, our captain earned second team, which shows his consistency throughout the season. Andres, Cole and Yaniss, deserve their awards as well. They were really consistent with their performances. The GNAC is a competitive conference and it proves we are moving in the right direction. We are excited for fall 2020."
 
The Yellowjackets improved to fourth place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference this season and finished 5-6-1 (8-9-2 overall). Jessy Martin started all 19 games in goal and led the league in saves with 88. Martin also finished second in save percentage (.779), third in goals against average (1.20), and second in shutouts (six). Martin earned GNAC defensive player of the week on two occasions and is the first player to earn freshman of the year since Sam Charles won the award as a member of the Heartland Conference in 2006.
 
Senior defender Samuele Folla was the anchor to the back line this season and after taking honorable mention in 2018, improved to first team recognition this season. Folla started 16 games and finished with 781 minutes. He recorded two shot attempts and was in large part responsible for MSUB allowing 24 goals this season, an improvement from 38 in 2018.
 
Forward Shantik Bedrosian started all 17 games and finished second on the team with 13 points. Bedrosian tied for seventh in the GNAC with 0.28 assists per game and had four goals and five assists to help the team. Bedrosian led the squad with 19 shots on goal and 43 total shot attempts. Both Bedrosian and Martin were unanimous first team selections by the GNAC coaches.
 
Junior defender Luca Battistotti collected second team all-GNAC after two straight seasons earning honorable mention. Battistotti, the team captain piloted the Yellowjackets to five conference victories with 19 games played, and 18 starts. Battistotti played the most minutes among position players of anyone on the team with 1,715.
 
Yaniss Aka started 15 games in his first season with the team and recorded one goal, five assists, and seven points with four shots on goal. Cole Hage made 17 starts and contributed nine shot attempts in 1,583 minutes. Andres Perez led the Yellowjackets with 17 points, including six goals, and five assists. Perez played 19 games with 11 starts and 948 minutes played.
 
In total, 12 GNAC players were named first team all-conference with 11 second team, and 20 honorable mentions. League leading goal scorer Brandon Madsen (Saint Martin's) was unanimously named GNAC player of the year. Greg Brisbon (Western Washington) earned coach of the year after piloting the Vikings to the top-record in the conference and a trip to the NCAA Division II regional tournament. Jeremiah Lee (Western Washington) was tabbed defensive player of the year and Lorenzo Valentini (Northwest Nazarene) was selected newcomer of the year.