KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Fort Lewis College’s Fabian Kling was named to the Daktronics Men’s Soccer Division II All-America first team, national coordinator John Dodderidge announced yesterday.

Berekk Blackwell and Ryan Wirth received second team honors, while Thomas Hoang was named to the third team.

While at Fort Lewis, all four have been part of three Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference regular season, postseason, and NCAA playoff teams (2008, 2009, and 2011) and FLC’s 2009 NCAA Division II national championship team.

Kling is a 6-foot-3 senior defender from Holbein Gymnasium in Augsburg, Germany. This marks the third time in his career that he’s received All-America accolades. He previously earned All-America third team accolades in 2010 by Daktronics (chosen by sports information directors) and the NSCAA (chosen by head coaches).

Kling is a five-time All-Central Region performer (including both Daktronics and NSCAA teams), a multiple All-RMAC selection, an RMAC All-Academic first team choice (as a senior), the Most Valuable Player of the 2011 RMAC tournament, the 2011 RMAC Defensive Player of the Year, and a member of the NCAA-II All-Final Four squad in 2009. Despite playing central defense, Kling ranks seventh in FLC in goals (27) and tenth in total points (59) in 84 games.

“Fabian’s achievements this year have been remarkable when you think he missed seven games through a very serious knee injury,” said third-year FLC head coach Oige Kennedy. “And the whole team is just so glad to have him back on the field for this final stretch of the season. In my opinion, when you look back on this program’s history of elite players, Fabian will rank very highly on this list. He is this year’s team captain and our inspirational leader.”

Blackwell, a 6-foot-2 senior defender from Notre Dame Prep in Scottsdale, Ariz., earned All-America accolades for the first time in his career. He was also named to the Capitol One Academic All-America® Division II men’s soccer second team yesterday.

He was previously named to the Daktronics All-Central Region first team, the Capitol One Academic All-District 7 team, the All-RMAC first team, and the RMAC All-Academic first team in 2011. He was a second team RMAC All-Academic pick in 2010 and a two-time recipient of the D2 Athletic Directors Association/WeatherPORT Academic Achievement Award. He has notched one goal and one assist thus far in 2011. During his four-year career, he has tallied eight total points on three goals and two assists in 70 career appearances.

“Berekk has been outstanding for our team this year and has been probably one of our most consistent performers every game we play,” said Kennedy. “You always know that you will get a reliable performance from him and that is such an important feature for any defender to have in his game.”

Wirth, a 5-foot-10 senior goalkeeper from Bayfield, Colo., earned All-America honors for the first time. He previously was named to the Daktronics All-Central Region first team, the All-RMAC first team, the RMAC Student-Athlete of the Month for October, and was a two-time RMAC Defensive Player of the Week in 2011. He currently leads all NCAA Division II goalkeepers in save percentage (.889) and ranks second in the nation in goals against average (0.391). He has also posted 14 shutouts in 23 games in 2011. He is FLC’s career leader in winning percentage (25-2-4, .867) and goals against average (0.439).

“Ryan has worked extremely hard with our goalkeeper coach this year (Zane Wells) and has managed to keep the opponents to very minimal goals consistently from game to game,” said Kennedy. “It is no surprise to us that statistically he is amongst the top keepers in the nation because we get to see him perform every day in training. He is a top class goalkeeper who became this program’s fifth All-American goalkeeper (joining Steve Berglund, Nick Clark, Tom Donley, and Wells) and our third from the local area (Clark and Wells).”

Hoang, a 5-foot-11 senior forward from Liberty High School in Colorado Springs, Colo., also earned All-America honors for the first time. He was an All-Central Region first team choice the past two years. He is also a two-time All-RMAC selection (first team in 2011, third team in 2010).

Hoang ranks among FLC career leaders in assists (third, 31), total points (seventh, 75), and goals (ninth, 22) in 72 career appearances. He scored the biggest goal of his Skyhawk career when he banged home a rebound with 6:06 left in regulation in FLC’s 1-0 win over Incarnate Word in the second round of the NCAA playoffs. He ranks second in the nation in total assists (13) and eighth in assists per game (0.59) in 2011.

“Thomas is a very special player and as a coach I am lucky to have been given the opportunity to work with such a talent,” said Kennedy. “He is so dangerous around the box and always looks as if something positive will happen when he gets hold of the ball. I think even though he is not wearing a captain’s armband, he displays great leadership through his play and how hard he works on the field.”

The team is sponsored by Daktronics, Inc., an acknowledged world leader in scoring, timing, and programmable display systems for virtually every sport at every level of competition. Sports information directors from across the nation nominated and voted for the Daktronics All-America teams.

The Skyhawks (22-1-0 overall) will face No. 21 Millersville (Pa.) (13-6-2) in the semifinals at 7 p.m. (MST) on Thursday, Dec. 1 in Pensacola, Fla. The championship game will be 2:30 p.m. (MST) on Saturday, Dec. 3.

The games will not be televised, but will be streamed for free online at www.ncaa.com/liveschedule/2011/12/01. The games will also be broadcast live on KIUP (930 AM) and www.radiodurango.com/listen_live.asp by play-by-play announcer John Mahoney and color commentator Loren Wickstrom. Live stats are available at www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/soccer-men/d2.

The Skyhawks are gunning for their third national championship in 2011, having previously won NCAA Division II titles in 2005 and 2009. FLC also finished second in the nation in 1999 and 2006. Fort Lewis is making its fifth trip to the Final Four.

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