Junior forward
Matt Fechter cemented his niche among the top players in the annals of Colorado College men's soccer today when he was named a second-team All-American by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
Fechter is the seventh player in the 62-year history of the program to receive the honor and the first since Patrick McGinnis was named to the NSCAA first team in 2004.
CC's list of All-Americans also includes Greg Kazemi (1986), Noah Epstein (1990 and '93), Rob Lipp (1992), Arron Lujan (1994) and Dan Morlan (1997).
“If anyone deserves to be our first All-American since Pat McGinnis, Matt certainly is the one,” head coach
Horst Richardson said. “Matt is an exceptionally gifted attacker with skillful and deceptive moves. He is an entertaining player whom the crowd applauds.”
The SCAC Offensive Player of the Year, Fechter led the Tigers in scoring with a career-high 33 points. He struck for 11 goals and assisted on 11 more, emerging as the only player in the conference to reach double digits in both statistics this season and just the 12th in league history to record the rare double-double.
A product of Westfield, N.J., Fechter was involved in six of CC's 11 game-winning goals, scoring three and assisting on three others. He also set up game-tying goals on two occasions. The Tigers were 5-2-0 this season when he found the net and 8-2-2 when he had a point.
“Most importantly, Matt is a team player,” Richardson said. “He gets his teammates involved. Matt is as happy when they score as he is when he scores himself. That's a true indication of Matt's stature as a player and a teammate.”
Fechter earned first-team all-SCAC accolades for the third consecutive season after finishing first in assists, third in points and tied for fourth in goals. He also was second in shots and tied for fifth in game-winning goals.
Colorado College completed the season with an 11-5-3 overall record and finished third in the league's regular-season standings with a 6-3-0 mark.
