Almeida Named NAIA Honorable Mention All-American | Schools

CLINTON, Iowa--The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) announced the 2012 Men's Soccer All-American teams on Monday.  Landing amongst the Honorable Mention All-American nominees was Ashford University junior forward Lucas Almeida.

Almeida started in 19 matches for the Saints and scored 12 goals to go along with eight assists as AU recorded a 13-4-4 mark overall and notched its second-ever berth in the NAIA national tournament.  The Sao Paulo, Brazil-native was a First Team All-A.I.I. selection following the regular season and a member of the A.I.I. All-Tournament squad.

In addition, Almeida scored the game-winning goal in the NAIA Men's Soccer National Championship Opening Round clash against Benedictine College (Kan.) and had his lone two-goal contest of the season in a 2-1 home victory over Jamestown College (N.D.) on Oct. 20.  For the year, Almeida recorded six game-winning goals and was a perfect three-of-three from the penalty spot.

Mobile (Ala.) senior midfielder Stephen Okai, an Accra, Ghana-native, was honored as the Select Sport America-NAIA Men's Soccer National Player of the Year. Since the awards inception in 1997, Okai becomes the first Ram to be National Player of the Year in men's soccer.

Okai was part of a program to go 17-5-2 on the season and a runner-up finish in the NAIA National Championship. He started in 23 games and tied for second on the team in assists, nine, and tallied 10 goals.

The NAIA All-America committee consists of the NAIA-Men's Soccer Coaches Association Executive Committee, the championship games committee and two men's soccer coaches based on geography.  The committee selected 11 members on each of the first Team, second Team and third Teams, and then an additional honorable mention list.