KANSAS CITY, Mo. - On Thursday night during the National Championship banquet ahead of the Final Four matches tomorrow, the United Soccer Coaches released their All-American teams for NCAA Division III men's and women's soccer. Among the student-athletes honored were a trio of Falcons with
Cooper Robbins picking up accolades on the men's side while
Brooke Firestone and
Sunny Gelnovatch celebrated for the women.
Robbins, Firestone, and Gelnovatch were all selected to the First Team. Firestone is the lone repeat All-American for the Falcons this season, earning her third-straight honor after being picked to the Third Team in 2017 and the Second Team in 2018. Robbins and Gelnovatch both earned their first-career All-American Honor this season.
The three All-American honors come just days after eight Falcons (four men and four women) were selected by the United Soccer Coaches to the All-Mid-Atlantic Region teams.
Cooper Robbins adds to his shelf of awards from the 2019 season that includes, MAC Commonwealth Defensive Player of the Year honors, First Team All-Conference, First Team All-Region, and now First Team All-American honors. Robbins anchored a Messiah defense that allowed just 16 goals and owned a 0.70 goals against average on the year. Messiah was the top defense in the conference and ranked as the 15th best in NCAA Division III this season. Starting all 23 games on defense, Robbins even found the back of the net on a penalty kick against Dickinson on Sept. 11.
Robbins becomes the 13th Messiah defender and 43rd overall Messiah men's soccer player to be honored as an All-American.
As mentioned,
Brooke Firestone picked up her third-straight All-American nod after lead the Messiah offense through the regular season with 19 goals and five assists. After earning Third Team honors in 2017, Firestone moved up to the Second Team last season before claiming First Team honors as a senior. Firestone is averaging a goal per game this season with 19 tallies in 19 games played. She has collected seven multi-goal games on the year and is tied for seventh in the nation with eight game-winning goals.
Firestone becomes the first Falcons since
Nikki Elsaesser (2013, '14, '15) to earn three-straight All-American nods.
After earning her third-straight First Team All-Region honors earlier this week,
Sunny Gelnovatch was celebrated on Thursday night as a First Team All-American for the first time in her career. Gelnovatch controlled the midfield for the Falcons all season long while also finding time to push forward in dangerous moments, netting a half dozen goals while adding eight assists. Her nose for the ball and poise after earning possession has allowed Messiah to impose their game plan on nearly every opponent they have encountered.
With Gelnovatch and Firestone's First Team honors, Messiah women's soccer now has 39 All-American nods in program history.
Messiah's women's soccer team will compete in the Final Four on Friday morning at 11:00 a.m. in Greensboro, N.C. when they take on the Carnegie Mellon Tartans with a trip to the National Championship Game on the line.
