Four soccer Marlins named to All-ODAC squads

FOREST, Va. -- Old Dominion Athletic Conference post-season awards were presented to a quartet of Virginia Wesleyan College players, including three seniors.

All three seniors, John McKenzie (Virginia Beach/Landstown), Nick Forno (Wilmington, Del./Salesianum), and Paul Messier (Manassas, Va./Osbourn Park) picked up second team honors, while sophomore Brian Cornell (Front Royal, Va./Warren County) was a third-team honoree. It is the second consecutive award for McKenzie and the first for Forno, Messier, and Cornell.

Virginia Wesleyan posted a 7-11-1 record in 2011, overcoming a mid-season slump to win four of its last six contests.  The highlight of that season-ending streak was a 2-0 victory over the No. 1-seeded Maroons of Roanoke College in the ODAC tournament at Roanoke.  The Marlins' run was stopped by a 2-1 double overtime loss at Randolph College.  VWC dropped eight one-goal decisions in the season, including five in overtime.

Cornell emerged as the leading scorer for the Marlins, finishing with a trio of goals and four assists.  McKenzie finished No. 2 with three goals and three assists in 10 games, before injury and illness halted his season.  He did not play in the Marlins' final nine contests.  Rookies Blake Eshelman (Columbus, Ohio/Reynoldsburg) andTanner East (Salisbury, Md./Parkside) contributed to the offensive output with four goals and three goals, respectively.

Forno and Messier continued their roles as leaders for the VWC defense. The Marlins recorded three shutouts and allowed just one goal in four contests.  The defense allowed just 12 goals in each half this season.

The complete 2011 All-ODAC men's soccer team

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