All-American Honors Roll In For Men's Soccer Standouts James, White

STORY LINKS

• NSCAA All-Americans

• College Soccer News All-Americans

STORRS, Conn. (Dec. 17, 2007) - Julius James (Maloney Gardens, Trinidad) and O'Brian White (Scarborough, Ontario) became just the second pair of National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) First Team All-Americans for the University of Connecticut men's soccer team since the 1980 season.

The pair joins Erhardt Kapp and Joe Morrone, Jr., who also led their team to the NCAA Quarterfinals. In addition to NSCAA honors, James and White were tagged First Team All-Americans by College Soccer News after leading the Huskies to a 20-3-1 record and the BIG EAST Regular Season and Tournament Championships.

James joins Chris Gbandi as the only three-time All-Americans in UConn history, as well as the only two-time first team selections. He wrapped up his stunning four-year career with the Huskies as a MAC Hermann Trophy semifinalist and Lowe's Senior CLASS Award finalist, as well as the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year for the third consecutive season.

He anchored of the UConn defense that posted 14 shutouts, including four in the postseason, and a 0.53 goals-against average for the year. He played every minute of the season at center back, tallying the game-winning goal against Syracuse and a goal and an assist against Louisville in the BIG EAST Semifinals.

White, a newly-minted MAC Hermann Trophy finalist, led all NCAA Division I men's scorers in points with 53 and goals with 23, including six in postseason play. He also tallied seven assists on the season. White was selected as the BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year and was also a unanimous choice on the all-conference first team after earning conference Player of the Week honors five times this season.

He had seven multi-goal efforts this season, including three hat tricks. White became the first player in UConn history to tally back-to-back hat tricks, as well as three in a career. He now holds the UConn record for goals in a season, bypassing the mark set by Joe Morrone, Jr. in 1979. White is eighth all-time at UConn with 101 career points (40g, 21a).

As a first-time honoree, White joins the prestigious company of: James Blozie (1949), Pedro DeBrito (1981), Carlos Fetterolf (1948), Chris Gbandi (2000 & 2001), R. Paul Hunter (1976), Frantz Innocent (1974), Erhardt Kapp (1980), Joe M. Morrone (1980), Maurizio Rocha (1998) and James (2006 & 2007) as NSCAA First Team All-Americans.