The 2020-21 Men’s college season finished last week, with Marshall earning the first national championship in program history.

Chris Grassie, who signed a new contract last week, earns the TDS Coach of the Year after guiding the Thundering Herd to the title. Beating Clemson, Georgetown, North Carolina and beating Indiana in overtime, Grassie has built the Conference USA side into a national power after taking over in 2017. Marshall finished the recent season with a 13-2-3 record overall.

Pittsburgh came away with the individual awards for the 2020-21 season. Veljko Petkovic is the TDS Player of the Year, punctuating an excellent campaign with a College Cup appearance. In the tournament, Petkovic scored three goals and added two assists in four games. He finished the campaign with nine goals and eight helpers in 19 games, an excellent season for the New York City FC Academy product.

Teammate Bertin Jacquesson is the Freshman of the Year, making an instant impact after joining the ACC program from French side RC Strasbourg. A dynamic and powerful winger that blends intelligent play with outstanding technical skills, he finished with four goals and seven assists in 18 games.

In order to be eligible for the postseason awards, players had to be rostered at the end of the season, leaving out several impressive performers from the fall that had turned pro between the fall and spring campaigns. 

Postseason performances were also considered for these awards and the Top 100 list, which will come out later this week. Check out the individual awards and Best XI teams.

2020-2021 Men’s DI Postseason Awards

Player of the Year: Veljko Petkovic, Pittsburgh

Freshman of the Year: Bertin Jacquesson, Pittsburgh 

Coach of the Year: Chris Grassie, Marshall

Best XI Teams

First Team

F: Gloire Amanda (Oregon State), Victor Bezerra (Indiana), Valentin Noel (Pittsburgh)

M: Veljko Petkovic (Pittsburgh), Vitor Dias (Marshall), Dante Polvara (Georgetown), Dylan Teves (Washington)

D: Charlie Ostrem (Washington), Gerardo Lopez (Loyola Marymount), Jasper Loeffelsend (Pittsburgh)

GK: Roman Celentano (Indiana)

Second Team

F: Nicolo Mulatero (Missouri State), Giovanni Montesdeoca (North Carolina), Matthew Myers (High Point)

M: Noel Caliskan (Loyola Marymount), Sebastian Schacht (St. Mary's (CA)), Gino Vivi (UCF), Marc Ybarra (Michigan)

D: Thomas Judge (James Madison), Nico Benalcazar (Wake Forest), Kyle Hiebert (Missouri State)

GK: Giannis Nikopolidis (Georgetown)

Third Team

F: Zach Ryan (Stanford), CJ Tibbling (Seton Hall), Kyle Holcomb (Wake Forest)

M: Noah Jensen (Oakland), Sebastian Chalbaud (High Point), Sean Zawadzki (Georgetown), Sofiane Djeffal (Oregon State)

D: Esai Easley (Grand Canyon), Bridger Hansen (New Hampshire), Nathan Dossantos (Marshall)

GK: Alec Smir (North Carolina)

Freshman Best XI Teams

First Team

F: Bertin Jacquesson (Pittsburgh), Alex Meinhard (Tulsa), Maximilian Moeller (Grand Canyon)

M: Chris Hegardt (Georgetown), Filip Mirkovic (Pittsburgh), Peter Stroud (Duke), Laurence Wootton (Ohio State)

D: Finn McRobb (High Point), Garrison Tubbs (Wake Forest), Alex Henderson (Georgia State)

GK: James Lowell (Maryland)

Second Team

F: Jony Munoz (UMKC(m)), Beto Soto (Marquette), Theo Collomb (UNC Greensboro)

M: Peter Mangione (Penn State), Christian Buendia (Saint Louis), Sami Charaf Amal (Campbell), Mark Fisher (Stanford)

D: Anderson Rosa (UCF), Thomas Beecham (California Baptist), Joseph Maher (Indiana)

GK: Eoin Gawronski (Temple)

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