Dec. 10, 2008

River Forest, IL - The National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) released the 2008 North Central All-Region Teams on Wednesday with Dominican's Matt Kochanowski (Arlington Heights, IL), Michael Kapusta (Bartlett, IL) and Piotr Sliwa (Chicago, IL) all being named to the NSCAA All-Region First Team. In addition to the three Stars on the First Team, senior Plamen Pamukov (Addison, IL) and freshman Edwin Lagunas (Waukegan, IL) garnered Second Team honors.

Kochanowski, a senior forward, makes his third appearance on the North Central Region All-Region First Team after collecting second team honors as a freshman in 2005. This season, Kochanowski was the team's leader in goals, tallying 17 goals and nine assists for a total of 43 points in just 18 games. He was named the Northern Athletics Conference (NAC) Offensive Player of the Year, leading Dominican to its third straight NAC title. Kochanowski closes out his collegiate career with 72 goals, the most by any Dominican University player since the Stars joined the NCAA ranks in 2000.

Kapusta and Sliwa anchored the Stars' defense which ranked 16th in the NCAA Division III with a 0.60 goals against average, posting 13 shutouts on the season. Kapusta, a 6'0" sophomore, was named the NAC Defensive Player of the Year and finished the season as the Stars' points leader, logging 45 points on 15 goals and 15 assists, while Sliwa posted a minuscule 0.58 goals against average as Dominican's starting goalkeeper. Logging over 1,850 minutes in goal for the Stars, Sliwa surrendered just 12 goals against on the season while logging 37 saves and posting an 18-3-1 record in goal with 11 shutouts.

Lagunas and Pamukov rounded out the Stars' offensive attack which ranked second in the nation in scoring, averaging 4.17 goals per game. Lagunas, the NAC's Freshman of the Year, was Dominican's third leading scorer with 42 points on the season. The Waukegan native scored 13 goals and racked up a team-leading 16 assists as he was one of just four players that started all 23 games for the Stars. Pamukov, a First Team selection in 2005, 2006 and 2007, also started all 23 games for Dominican, scoring 16 goals to go along with six assists. The 6'1" senior finishes his career with 51 goals and 40 assists for 142 career points.

Dominican finished the season in the second round of the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer National Tournament after a 1-0 loss to Loras College, who made a run all the way to the Division III Final Four for the second consecutive year. In the final NSCAA national poll, the Stars ranked 19th in the nation with a 19-3-1 overall record after going a perfect 11-0-0 in the NAC and winning the NAC Tournament Championship.