Berntsen, Deschene Earn All-TCCC Honors

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(Portions Courtesy of The Commonwealth Coast Conference)

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - Student-athletes from 11 different institutions in The Commonwealth Coast Conference were represented on the 2010 All-TCCC Men's Soccer Team, which was announced today by Commissioner Gregg M. Kaye.  In addition to the all-conference team, four major individual award winners and the team sportsmanship award winner were also selected. Western New England College senior Alex Dos Santos was named TCCC Player of the Year, Nichols' freshman Pat Gaumond was chosen as TCCC Rookie of the Year, Wentworth's Anthony Berntsen (Portland, Maine) was honored as TCCC Senior Scholar Athlete of the Year, Nichols' head coach Chris Traina was honored as TCCC Coach of the Year and Eastern Nazarene College was the recipient of the Team Sportsmanship Award.

Voting for the All-TCCC team and each of the major awards was conducted among TCCC men's soccer coaches.

In addition to Berntsen earning TCCC Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors, he was an honorable mention All-TCCC selection.  Joining Berntsen among the 35 student-athletes earning all-conference honors is junior forward Josh Deschene (Webster, Mass.)

A clear team player on and off the field, Berntsen has been the anchor for the Leopards defense throughout his career. The four-year starter and two year captain helped lead Wentworth to a 9-8 season, and a 7-6 record in conference-play, earning the number six seed in the upcoming TCCC Tournament. Playing in 16 of the team's games, he helped the Leopards post five shutouts and hold opponents to just one goal in two other games.  He has played in 67 games over the course of his career and earned both All-TCCC and NSCAA All-New England honors as a junior.  When Berntsen is not preventing opponents from scoring he is earning a 3.92 GPA in Computer Engineering Technology and has been nominated for CoSIDA's Academic All-America Men's Soccer Team.

Deschene has been an effective player at forward throughout his career and this year he has played in all of Wentworth's 17 games to date, scoring three goals and adding a pair of assists for eight points – all of which have come in league play.  He notched the game-winning goal in a 3-0 win over Eastern Nazarene on Sept. 11.  A three-year letterwinner for the Leopards, Deschene has played in 58 games, scoring 11 goals and assisting on 11 others for 33 career points.  Three of his 11 goals have been game-winning tallies.

Under the direction of 14^th-year head coach Bob Long, the Wentworth men's soccer team opens TCCC Tournament play on Saturday, Oct. 30, at third-seeded Gordon.