• 2025 All-OVC Men's Soccer Teams and Award Winners (PDF)
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. - The Ohio Valley Conference announced the 2025 men's soccer award winners and All-Conference teams on Friday, two days ahead of the start of the 2025 OVC Championship which will take place in St. Charles, Missouri.
In a vote of league head coaches and communications directors, Lindenwood's
Kris Bertsch was named OVC Coach of the Year while two of his players earned individual awards. Senior
Luca Bartoni was tabbed OVC Forward of the Year while senior
Leandro Haesler was named OVC Defender of the Year. HCU players earned the other three individual awards with senior
D'Alessandro Herrera being named OVC Midfielder of the Year (for the second time in his career), senior
Alex Aitken taking home the OVC Goalkeeper of the Year award and forward
Joby Reid earning OVC Freshman of the Year honors.
The League also announced the All-OVC first and second teams as well as an All-Newcomer Team. HCU and Liberty had the most combined first and second team picks with five apiece, while Lindenwood followed with four. Seven of the eight OVC teams had at least one All-Newcomer pick with OVC regular season champion Lindenwood leading the way with four.
Bertsch led Lindenwood to a 13-2-3 overall record and 6-2-2 OVC mark, as the program earned its first OVC regular season title and its first overall regular season championship in any conference since 2016. The 13 wins were the most of the program's Division I era and the team was 8-0-2 in home matches. The Lions started the season 10-0-2 before suffering its first loss on October 9. Entering the postseason the team ranks third nationally in goal differential (+30) and save percentage (89.0%), fifth in team goals against average (0.50), sixth in shutout percentage (61.1%) and 10th in assists/game (2.56).
In 10 OVC matches, Bartoni had two goals and four assists. Overall, on the season he had five goals and five assists in 18 matches and had game-winning goals against Wright State and Eastern Illinois. On the year, 12 of his 22 shots were on goal and he logged 903 minutes (559 coming in Conference action).
Haesler helped key a defense that ranked first in OVC play in shutouts in both all games (11) and league-only games (6). On the season the Lions allowed only nine goals, five coming in OVC action. The transfer logged 750 minutes in Conference play and scored a pair of goals (plus an additional goal during the non-conference schedule).
Herrera earned the Midfielder of the Year award for the second time, after previously winning the award in 2023. The senior started all 17 matches, registering five goals (two game-winners) and three assists. Four of those goals and three of the assists came in his 10 OVC matches, where he played 829 of a possible 900 minutes.
Aitken was named OVC Goalkeeper of the Week six times during the season (extending his career total to nine) in helping HCU finish reach the 10-win plateau for the first time since 2018. Overall, he logged 1520:21 minutes in goal (only coming out the nine 9:39 on Senior Day) and compiling a 0.77 goals against average in 17 matches. Nationally he ranks 10th in save percentage (84.3%), 11th in shutouts (8) and 17th in total saves (70). For his career he has 299 saves, which is the most in HCU history. He tallied a career-high 12 saves in a key 1-0 victory at Liberty in early October.
In his first collegiate season, Reid was second on the Huskies squad with five goals and first with six assists in 17 matches. Overall he logged 1,250 minutes and had 14 of his 28 shots be on goal while scoring the game-winning goal in a 2-0 victory at UC San Diego. In 10 Conference matches he had four goals and three assists. His 1.1 points/game total in OVC action was second in the Conference, while his four league goals ranked tied for third.
2025 All-OVC Men’s Soccer Teams and Award Winners
OVC Forward of the Year: Luca Bartoni, Lindenwood
OVC Midfielder of the Year: D'Alessandro Herrera, HCU
OVC Defender of the Year: Leandro Haesler, Lindenwood
OVC Goalkeeper of the Year: Alex Aitken, HCU
OVC Freshman of the Year: Joby Reid, HCU
OVC Coach of the Year: Kris Bertsch, Lindenwood
ALL-OVC FIRST TEAM
GK - Alex Aitken, HCU
D - Leandro Haesler, Lindenwood
D - Wes Gibson, SIUE
D - Nico Kross, HCU
MF - D'Alessandro Herrera, HCU
MF - Matteo Landais, Lindenwood
MF - Yuki Nakamura, Eastern Illinois
MF - Carles Zomeño, SIUE
F - Luca Bartoni, Lindenwood
F - Ryan Okerayi, HCU
F - Evan Howard, SIUE
ALL-OVC SECOND TEAM
GK - Gavin Roberts, Lindenwood
GK - Alejandro De La Torre, UIW
D - Casey McCarthy, Liberty
D - Nathan Bessinger, Western Illinois
D - Perry Blay, Liberty
MF - Aidan Morrison, Liberty
MF - Ethan Blake, Lindenwood
MF - Ricardo Garcia, HCU
F - Leo Conneh, Liberty
F - Liam Gainey, Western Illinois
F - Zach Lifferth, Liberty
F - David Davila, Southern Indiana
OVC ALL-NEWCOMER
MF - Yuki Nakamura, Eastern Illinois
F - Joby Reid, HCU
MF - Ben Thirkill, HCU
GK - Tyler Beck, Liberty
MF - Matteo Landais, Lindenwood
D - Leandro Haesler, Lindenwood
MF - Gavin Csiszar, Lindenwood
F - Alander Soares, Lindenwood
F - Evan Howard, SIUE
GK - Noah Scheidweiler, SIUE
MF - Noe Robles, UIW
D - Nathan Bessinger, Western Illinois
There were 12 members on the All-OVC second-team and All-Newcomer Team due to ties in voting.