Nov. 14, 2007

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The JU men's soccer team will open up the A-Sun tournament on Thursday in DeLand, Fla. against the winner of the No. 4 Lipscomb versus No. 5 Belmont matchup that will be played on Wednesday.

The Dolphins hold the No. 1 seed after winning the regular season title and along with No. 2 seed Stetson, have a first round bye.

"Whoever we play will be a tough matchup," said JU head coach Mike Johnson. "Both Lipscomb and Belmont are well-coached teams, but I feel our guys will be up for the challenge. This is what they have been striving for all season and I hope that all our hard work will pay off."

Senior forward Anton Axelsson was named A-Sun "Player of the Year" after leading the A-Sun in points (34), points per game (1.89) goals (15), goals per game (.83) and game-winning goals (6). Axelsson finished tied for fourth in the nation in points per game and tied for second in goals per game. He was the only unanimous selection to the A-Sun first team.

Senior defender Brian Cocciolo was also named first team all-conference, while sophomore midfielder Stefan Runeman and freshman goalkeeper Matt Gilman were named to the second team. Gilman also earned all-freshman team honors.

Johnson was named to the A-Sun "Coach of the Year" for the second time in his career, having previously received the honors with the JU women's team in 2000.

The Dolphins traveled to Nashville, Tenn. earlier in the season needing two wins to clinch the regular season title and defeated Lipscomb, 3-0, on Oct. 26 and Belmont, 2-0, on Oct. 28.

The A-Sun championship game will be held on Saturday at DeLand, Fla. The winner will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.