Prince and Yonga land on Big Ten All-Tournament Team
November 15, 2010 | Men's Soccer
Nov. 15, 2010
• Big Ten Tournament Central
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Freshmen Chris Prince (Naperville, Ill.) and Paul Yonga (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) were named to the all-tournament team at the conclusion of last week’s Big Ten Conference tournament, the league announced.
After advancing past defending Big Ten champion and No. 2 seed Ohio State on penalty kicks in the opening round, Wisconsin fell to eventual champion and No. 3 seed Michigan by a score of 1-0 in the semifinal round. Michigan earned a 4-1 win over No. 4 seed Penn State to claim its first Big Ten tournament title Sunday afternoon.
Yonga played all 200 minutes for the Badgers in the two tournament games. He was the lone player to start all 20 games for Wisconsin this season and finished his rookie year with two points on a pair of assists. The midfielder also posted 16 shots with five on goal.
Meanwhile, Prince played 106 minutes against Ohio State and 81 minutes against Michigan, tallying one shot in each game. He scored UW’s fourth goal in the shootout against the Buckeyes, giving the Badgers a 4-3 advantage with three shooters remaining. The forward led Wisconsin with 14 points, seven goals, 26 shots, 13 shots on goal and a .269 shot percentage in his rookie year.
Fellow freshman Nick Janus (Deer Park, Ill.) joined Prince and Yonga on the Big Ten All-Freshman Team this season. Prince also earned a place on the All-Big Ten second team with senior Aaron Nichols (Woodstock, Ill.).
Wisconsin’s semifinal appearance marked the team's best postseason finish since 2003 when UW also made it to the final four of the Big Ten tournament.
The Badgers finished Trask's first season by going 3-2-1 with four shutouts in their final six games of the season, only allowing two goals over that span. On the season, only one of Wisconsin's losses came by more than one goal; the Big Ten semifinal loss to Michigan marked UW's 12th one-goal loss of the year.
2010 Big Ten All-Tournament Team
Rich Balchan, Indiana
Will Bruin, Indiana
Hamoody Saad, Michigan
Soony Saad, Michigan
Domenic Barone, Michigan State
Sam Scales, Ohio State
Matt Eliason, Northwestern
Corey Hertzog, Penn State
Matheus Braga, Penn State
Chris Prince, Wisconsin
Paul Yonga, Wisconsin
Offensive Player of the Tournament: Soony Saad, Michigan
Defensive Player of the Tournament: Chris Blais, Michigan
