April 24, 2009

River Forest, IL - The Dominican University Department of Athletics announced on Tuesday evening the winners of the department's annual Male and Female Student-Athlete of the Year Awards with soccer's Matt Kochanowski capturing the award on the men's side.

Kochanowski, a 5'10" senior, landed on the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) All-Region First Team for the North-Central Region for the fourth straight season as he led the Stars to a 19-3-1 overall record and their third straight Northern Athletics Conference (NAC) championship with an unblemished record in conference play. Kochanowski was named the NAC's Offensive Player of the Year as he led the conference in points per game and goals per game with 17 goals and nine assists for a total of 43 points in just 18 games last season.

Kochanowski, graduating from the university in May, leaves the soccer program as the Dominican University men's soccer NCAA-era career leader in points and goals with 191 points and 72 goals over the past four seasons. Kochanowski and the Stars made four consecutive appearances in the NCAA Division III National Tournament, including a trip to the NCAA Sectional finals in 2006. In conference play, Kochanowski and his teammates have won four straight regular season conference championships, including a conference championship in the Lake Michigan Conference in 2005 and three straight NAC Championships from 2006-2008. In fact, over that time span, the Stars have not lost a regular season conference match, posting a 36-0-1 record in conference play.

Kochanowski beat out baseball's Colby Batchelor (Northridge, CA), basketball's Dan Borys (Crown Point, IN) and cross country's Ernesto Ramirez (Chicago, IL) for this year's award. Ramirez and Borys both landed on the NAC All-Conference Team's in their respective sports while Batchelor currently ranks in the top three on the baseball team in 12 statistical categories including batting average, slugging percentage, runs scored and runs batted in.