Lutin Named SCAC Newcomer of the Year As Three Gents Named All-SCAC

HOUSTON, Texas – In exclusive voting by the league's head coaches and sports information directors, Adam Knutson of Trinity University was selected 2024 SCAC Offensive Player-of-the-Year, while Colorado College's Curtis Hale was tabbed as the SCAC Defensive Player-of-the-Year for the third consecutive season. Complete Release

In that same balloting, Sebastian Lutin of Centenary College earned Newcomer-of-the-Year honors while Colorado College head coach, Scott Palguta, and his two assistants Sean Elvert and Tomas Martinez, were named SCAC Coaching Staff-of-the-Year.

Freshman GK Sebastian Lutin (Fort Worth, Texas), senior MF Brennan Amato (Denham Springs, La.), and freshman F Nathan Uduojie (Houston, Texas) all earned Honorable-Mention honors and Lutin and Uduojie each were named to the All-Freshman Team. 

A junior midfielder from Dripping Springs, Texas, Trinity's Adam Knutson heads into this weekend's SCAC tournament as the league leader in both goals (14) and points scored (32) and has twice as many game-winning goals (six) as the next closest player in the conference. He has scored at least a point in 15 of the 18 games he has played this year. A former SCAC Newcomer of the Year, Knutson leads a Tiger offensive unit that currently resides in the top 10 nationally, averaging 10.06 points per game (seventh in the nation). Knutson's selection as SCAC Offensive Player-of-the-Year represents the 12th time a Trinity student-athlete has won the award since the league started recognizing both an Offensive and Defensive Player-of-the-Year beginning in 2003.

Knutson was the runaway choice in the balloting for Offensive Player-of-the-Year honors, receiving 18 first place votes. Senior forward Jose Aguirre of Concordia University (Texas), forward Daniel Castro of the University of St. Thomas and senior midfielder Alexander Ward of Colorado College received two first-place votes each.

Curtis Hale, a senior defender from Richmond, Va., is the leader of a defensive unit that currently sits first in both the conference and the country in goals-against average, surrendering only 0.316 goals per game. CC has the best defense in the SCAC with the top save (.884 – sixth in the nation) and shutout percentage (.706 – third in the nation). The nation's fifth-ranked team, Colorado College has posted shutouts in 12 of its 17 matches this season, including nine of its 11 conference fixtures. Hale has also chipped in offensively for the Tigers, scoring one goal and assisting three others for five points, with all those contributions coming in conference play. Hale is the first men's soccer player to earn Defensive Player-of-the-Year honors three times in his career as only one other player as earned the award more than once – Kyle Altman of Trinity (2006 and 2007).

Hale received 15 first-place votes in the Defensive Player-of-the-Year selection process, out-balloting graduate defender JonConnor Rule of Trinity, who received seven votes. Senior defender Ian Alvarez of University of St. Thomas and first-year goalkeeper Sebastian Lutin of Centenary each picked up one first-place vote.

Sebastian Lutin, a first-year goalkeeper from Fort Worth, Texas, came in and earned Centenary's starting keeper position from the jump and put together an unbelievable freshman campaign. He single-handedly kept the Gents in matches on more than one occasion and was a rock in goal all season. Lutin leads the SCAC in saves by a wide margin, snaring 102 over the course of 16 games, and is fifth in save percentage at .810 while allowing 1.50 goals per game (ninth in the SCAC). The first-year goalkeeper helped lead a defense that allowed 10 fewer goals in conference play in three more matches than the previous season. Lutin is the first player in program history to earn SCAC Newcomer-of-the-Year honors, and the first man to win any major conference soccer postseason award.

Lutin received seven first-place votes in the hotly contested Newcomer-of-the-Year balloting, followed closely by first-year forward Hani Ahmadie of St. Thomas and first-year forward Teddy Opler of Colorado College, who received six votes each. First-year forward Alex Baltov of Trinity picked up three votes and first-year midfielder Giovanni Casias of University of the Ozarks and first-year Marco Guzman of Austin College split the remaining two first-place votes.

In his 10th season at the helm at Colorado College, Scott Palguta led this year's squad to a 10-0-1 conference mark and a share of the program's third SCAC regular season title. CC, currently ranked fifth in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 poll and No. 9 in the most recent NCAA Power Index rankings (11/6), will be the top seed at this weekend's conference tournament with an overall mark of 15-1-3. Last fall, the Tigers made history, reaching the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 30 years, marking their best season since 1992. Palguta currently sports a 122-39-24 career coaching mark, placing him second all-time among SCAC men's soccer coaches (with five or more years) in winning percentage (.724). He is currently fourth all-time in conference wins with 83 and his .814 conference winning percentage (83-14-13) ranks second all-time. The SCAC Coaching Staff-of-the-Year honor is the second consecutive and third under all-time for Palguta.

To view the entire 2024 All-SCAC Men's Soccer Team, click here.