All-WHAC Release

The Aquinas men's soccer team captured the program's first regular season WHAC championship since 2010, so naturally the team dominated the all-conference honors released on Tuesday (Nov. 7). Regardless, not many people could have predicted this outcome: 10 different Saints received on-field all-conference recognition and AQ earned four major awards in voting conducted by the league's head coaches.
 
Aquinas is home to the WHAC Offensive Player of the Year in junior Ricardo Rittersberger and the WHAC Defensive Player of the Year in senior Jesunifemi Ojutalayo. Also collecting big-time awards were junior Tevan Jones as the WHAC Newcomer of the Year, while Luke Ruff earned a well-deserved WHAC Coach of the Year honor.
 
Rittersberger is the first AQ player to be named the league's top offensive player since Tyler Fischer back in 2012. Being a junior, however, Rittersberger has a chance to match AQ Athletic Hall of Fame inductee Jeo Pantoja, who was the back-to-back Offensive Player of the Year in 2009 and 2010. Rittersberger, Fischer, and Pantoja are the only Saints in program history to receive this honor. 
 
It is no surprise that Rittersberger earned the award, as his 17 goals, nine assists, and 43 total points are all the best figures of any conference player. In fact, his 43 points are 11 points more than the second-place figure. He produced at this rate despite ranking just third in the league in shots (60). Rittersberger is a fixture in the national rankings, as well: he is sixth in the NAIA in goals, eighth in points, and tied for 16th in assists. He scored a goal or an assist in 13 of AQ's 17 games and tallied at least three points eight different times. On Sept. 23 against Concordia, he netted a hat trick - all three of AQ's goals - in the 3-0 victory. It was one of six games in which he scored at least twice. Five of his goals were game-winners, also the top mark in the league. Coming into this year, Rittersberger had nine goals and five assists in his career and he nearly doubled both figures in the 2023 campaign.
 
Ojutalayo makes history as the first Aquinas player to ever be named the WHAC Defensive Player of the Year, an award which debuted in 2008. He was the anchor of a stout defensive backline that saw five players on the back end receive all-conference honors. AQ allowed just 10 goals all season (second-place Madonna allowed 15) and the Saints gave up just seven goals in 11 WHAC contests. Ojutalayo started in all 10 WHAC games in which he appeared, finishing third with 877 minutes in those outings. Additionally, he notched his first two collegiate goals, doing so in wins over UM-Dearborn (Sept. 27) and Siena Heights (Oct. 18). 
 
Jones is the fourth AQ player to win the WHAC Newcomer of the Year award and the first since Theo Maye in 2020. Other past recipients include Aldony Mendez in 2013 and Ezekail Rodriguez in 2004. A junior transfer from Paris Junior College, Jones made an immediate impact, starting in 16 of 17 games and logging the ninth-most minutes (1,142) of any Saint. All three of his goals came in the last six games, tallying the lone goal in the 1-0 win over Cornerstone (Oct. 11) and scoring in back-to-back wins over Siena Heights (Oct. 18) and Cleary (Oct. 21). 
 
Leading a team projected to finish fourth in the WHAC standings, Ruff is just the second Aquinas coach to be tabbed as the WHAC Coach of the Year. He joins Abrahm Shearer, who did so twice - in 1999 and 2001. After a solid 10-7-3 overall record last season, the Saints did not receive a single first-place vote in the preseason coaches' poll. However, as the adage goes: it's not about where you start, it's about where you finish. And AQ saved its best for last, earning a dominant 3-0 road victory over top-place Indiana Tech on Oct. 28 to clinch the program's first regular season title since 2010. Ruff and the Saints earned an automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament, which will mark AQ's first trip to Nationals since 2012. In his fifth season at the helm of the program, this year's 13-2-3 record puts Ruff's career totals at Aquinas at 45-25-16.
 
Naturally, Rittersberger and Ojutalayo were named to the All-WHAC First Team; it is the third time on the First Team for Ojutalayo and Rittersberger's first appearance. Joining the duo as First Team recipients are senior goalkeeper Antonio Strassioto, junior defender Josh Freeman-Wright, and junior midfielder Joshua Clemitson. These are the first All-WHAC First Team honors for all three players.
 
Strassioto posted WHAC-bests of a 0.60 goals against average, 10 wins, and nine shutouts. His overall .809 save percentage was second-best in the league, but he was first in the WHAC with a .800 save percentage in league contests. Aquinas allowed just seven goals in conference play this year and shut out six of its 10 opponents. Strassioto broke the AQ career shutouts record early in the season and has 31 shutouts during his stellar career. 
 
Freeman-Wright teamed with Ojutalayo and Strassioto to help post those gaudy defensive numbers. AQ had to make the third-fewest saves (52) of any team in the conference. The Saints are tied for sixth in the NAIA with just 10 goals allowed and the 11 shutouts are tied for the most of any team in the country. Freeman-Wright is the only Saint to play in all 18 games - he started them all - and he naturally leads AQ with 1,443 minutes played. A force during the Saints' corner kicks, Freeman-Wright scored the game-winning goal in the season-opening victory over Holy Cross and netted another goal in the WHAC Tournament win over Siena Heights. He's added two assists to his statline this season, as well. 
 
Clemitson is second on Aquinas in both assists (eight) and points (14); the only player in the league with more assists than Clemitson is Rittersberger. A starter in all 17 games in which he appeared, Clemitson has recorded at least one point in eight games and has five multi-point outings. He handed out a pair of assists in wins over Alma (Sept. 10) and Rochester (Oct. 4) and scored three goals, including one in the opening round WHAC Tournament win over Siena Heights.
 
Jones earned All-WHAC Second Team honors and is joined on that squad by defenders Joe Lockey and Fin Pittock and senior midfielder Jai Tahlan. Pittock was also a Second Team selection in both 2020 and 2021; Tahlan and Pittock were both on the 2019 All-Newcomer Team, but these are the first all-conference accolades for Tahlan and Lockey.
 
Pittock recorded two goals and four assists, as he logged 14 starts in 17 games played this season. The senior notched a point in five different outings and was one of 10 different AQ players to log over 1,000 minutes. His two tallies came against Alma (Sept. 10) and Rochester (Oct. 4), while he handed out two assists against Concordia (Sept. 23). Lockey's 1,386 minutes were topped only by Freeman-Wright's total, as the junior has started in all 17 of his appearances. He has notched assists against Alma (Sept. 10), Siena Heights (Oct. 18), and Lawrence Tech (Oct. 25). Tahlan finished third on the team with 1,377 minutes, making 14 starts in 16 games throughout the year. He totaled goals against Goshen (Sept. 16), Rochester (Oct. 4) and in the championship-clinching win at Indiana Tech (Oct. 28). 
 
Jones also secured a spot on the WHAC All-Newcomer Team and was joined by classmate Yussef Hakmaoui. After making his debut on Sept. 23 against Concordia, Hakmaoui made quite an impact. He is one of just 12 players in the conference averaging at least 1.00 point per game. His 1.17 points per game is seventh-best in the league and his six assists are tied for fourth-most. Hakmaoui finished his opening season as a Saint with four goals and six assists, which includes a two-goal performance against Rochester (Oct. 4) and a three-assist effort in the win over Siena Heights (Nov. 4) in the WHAC Tournament. 
 
Aquinas also placed 13 athletes on the WHAC All-Academic Team, one of the top figures in the league. To qualify, a student-athlete must be a sophomore or above in academic standing with a cumulative GPA of 3.25 or better and in attendance at its institution for one full year. The baker's dozen of Saints that received the honor are Rittersberger, Lockey, Pittock, Strassioto, Clemitson, Tahlan, Andrea Ghiggini, Milan Hoeffnagel, Jackson VanderMeer, Anthony Leon, Stefano Moraccini, Jasper Schinkel, and Ivan Radovic.
 
Ojutalayo is AQ's representative on the WHAC Champions of Character Team, as the student-athlete who best represents the five core character values of integrity, respect, responsibility, sportsmanship, and servant leadership. 
 
The WHAC champion Saints take the #1 seed into Wednesday night's (Nov. 8) WHAC Tournament semifinal matchup against UNOH at 6:00 p.m. Aquinas hosts the Racers at the AQ Athletic Field, where the Saints are 9-1-2 this season, including a 3-0 defeat of UNOH on Oct. 7.