GREENSBORO, N.C. – UNC Greensboro (UNCG) had five student-athletes named to the 2021 Spring All-Southern Conference Men's Soccer Team, which was released Thursday afternoon.
 
The league's seven coaches also named two all-conference teams and an all-freshman squad. This season's all-freshman team includes 12 student-athletes because of ties in the voting. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own players or themselves.
 
Theo Collomb, who shared Freshman of the Year honors with Furman's Jake Raine, was one of three Spartans named to the First Team along with junior midfielder Fernando Garcia and freshman defender Emmanuel Hagan. Sophomore midfielder Mani Austmann earned Second Team recognition while Collomb, Hagan, and Niclas Wild were named to the All-Freshman Team.
 
Together they helped UNCG enjoy a campaign that resulted in a 7-2-2 record and a No. 2 seed in the upcoming Southern Conference semifinals. UNCG will host ETSU Saturday, April 10 at 6 p.m. The Spartans also began the season with a 4-1 record, which marked their best start since 2004.
 
UNCG led the SoCon with 22 goals and 57 points.
 
Collomb, who was named the SoCon Offensive Player of the Month for March, leads the SoCon with six goals. He scored five goals, including consecutive game winners, during the month of March. He scored an overtime goal with 1:11 remaining to help UNCG beat Belmont. He also had an assist in that game as well.
 
Collomb scored the decisive goal against Wofford in a 1-0 win. Collomb also earned SoCon Player of the Week honors on March 30. He leads the SoCon in points per game (1.27) and is fourth in goals per game (0.55).
 
Garcia and Austmann are tied for second on the team and in the SoCon with five goals each. They each have two game-winning goals. Garcia had a pair of two-goal outings against Belmont Abbey and VMI. Garcia also tallied a goal against Elon. Garcia leads the SoCon in goals per game (0.62) and is second in points per game (1.25).
 
Austmann, who earned SoCon Player of the Week recognition on March 9, finished with 12 points this season. He scored a goal in consecutive contests against Elon and Longwood. Austmann also had goals in three straight conference matches against Furman, VMI, and Belmont. He scored a penalty kick goal with two seconds remaining to help the Spartans force overtime against Belmont on March 27.
 
Hagan was part of a strong defensive unit for the Spartans that allowed 0.91 goals per match. His effort helped UNCG record five shutouts. The Spartans enter the SoCon playoffs not having allowed a goal in 225 minutes.
 
Wild posted four clean sheets this season, ending the spring season with three shutouts in his last four outings. He finished the regular season with a 0.82 goals against average and a .774 save percentage, which both rank third in the conference. Wild earned SoCon Defensive Player of the Week honors after blanking Wofford and ETSU in the final week of the season.
 
Furman tallied a conference-leading nine total players who earned postseason recognition, including a conference-best six players on the all-conference first team. Belmont featured seven players, while UNCG had five. Mercer and ETSU had four and three student-athletes represented, respectively, as Wofford rounded out the squads with one selection.
 
No. 1 Furman will face No. 4 seed Belmont in the SoCon Men's Soccer Championship semifinals on Friday, April 9, in Greenville, South Carolina, at 6 p.m. ET. The second semifinal match between No. 2 UNCG and No. 3 ETSU will take place on Saturday, April 10, at 6 p.m. ET in Greensboro, North Carolina. 
 
The championship match will take place Friday, April 16, or Saturday, April 17, at the highest remaining seed. The tournament winner earns the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Soccer Championship.
 
2020-21 Men's Soccer All-Conference Team
Player of the Year – Ben Hale, R-Sr., Furman
Goalkeeper of the Year – Ben Hale, R-Sr., Furman
Coach of the Year – Doug Allison, Furman
Freshmen of the Year – Jake Raine, F, Furman and Theo Collomb, F, UNCG
 
First Team
F Shaun-Chris Joash, Furman
F Jake Raine, Furman
F Theo Collomb, UNCG
MF Miles Fenton, Furman
MF Callum Holland, Furman
MF Dylan Gaither, Mercer
MF Fernando Garcia, UNCG
D Cole McLagan, Furman
D Emmanuel Hagan, UNCG
D Buster Sjoberg, Wofford
GK Ben Hale, Furman
 
Second Team
F Niccolo Dagnoni, Belmont
F Liam O'Brien, Belmont
F Jared Leheta, ETSU
F Dawson Gideon, Mercer
MF AJ Chastonay, Belmont
MF Kieran Richards, ETSU
MF Mani Austmann, UNCG
D Jack Shaw, Belmont 
D Tommy Kay, Furman
D Kareve Richards, Mercer
GK Drew Romig, Belmont 
 
All-Freshman Team
AJ Chastonay, MF, Belmont
Michael Saunders, MF, Belmont
Eric Stiles, MF, Belmont
Jared Leheta, F, ETSU
Tarik Pannholzer, F, ETSU
Josh Hosie, D, Furman
Sam Miller, MF, Furman
Jake Raine, F, Furman
Nick Wanzer, MF, Mercer
Theo Collomb, F, UNCG
Emmanuel Hagan, D, UNCG
Niclas Wild, GK, UNCG