AWOSIKA AND GRANDE EARN ALL-STATE RECOGNITION

RADFORD, Va. – Senior Iyiola Awosika and sophomore Luis Grande of the Radford men's soccer team have been named to the Virginia Sports Information Director's (VaSID) All-State Team, as announced Thursday morning.

“We are extremely proud of Iyiola and Luis for being named to the Virginia All-State team,” commented head coach Marc Reeves, who just completed his second season at the helm. “With 14 Division 1 programs in Virginia and several having very strong seasons, this is a great achievement. I believe it also shows our program growing in value and making major strides forward. We played a very strong schedule this past fall, including six NCAA teams and both these players had exceptional seasons.”

Awosika, the Highlanders' leading scorer in 2011, finished the regular season ranked among league leaders in goals (3rd / 9), goals per game (3rd / 0.50), points (T-3rd / 21), points per game (4th / 1.17) and game-winning goals (T-3rd / 2).

In addition to his second all-state selection, Awosika is a three-time all-conference performer, all-region honoree and was tabbed Big South Freshman of the Year in 2008

The four-year starter finished his illustrious career ranked among the school's all-time leaders in goals, total points and penalty kicks made.

“Iyiola has had an incredible career here at Radford and will be sorely missed both on and off the field. I truly believe he will play at the next level and I look forward to seeing him take opportunities after graduation to obtain his goal of becoming a professional.”

A midfielder, Grande ranked just behind his teammate in just about every major offensive category. The 2010 all-freshman selection finished the regular season with eight goals (three game-winning), three assists and 19 total points. Along with game-winning strikes against Appalachian State, Virginia Tech and Winthrop, Grande finished with a pair of multi-goal games and was named Big South Player of the Week following Radford's season-opening win.

“Luis just finished his second year but showed maturity and a real desire in his development as a player over the past year. He is a tremendous soccer player with real game-changing ability, but also a great person, teammate and leader. We are excited to see his full potential unfold as he continues to work hard on a daily basis.”

For just the second time in the last decade, the Radford men's soccer team finished their campaign with a winning record. After a journey that included games against four nationally-ranked foes, including once top-ranked Maryland, the Highlanders concluded the 2011 season 9-8-2 overall and 4-4-1 in the highly competitive Big South Conference.

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