Jan. 8, 2007

Fairfax, Va.--Freshmen netminder Sean Kelley (Lexington, Ky.) added to his truckload of postseason awards as he was selected to Soccer America's Men's All-Freshman First Team as announced by the organization. Kelley is the lone Colonial Athletic Association representative on either of the teams.

Most recently, Kelley was named to both the 2006 College Soccer News All-Freshman First Team and the National Soccer Coaches Association of America All-South Atlantic Region Third Team. Kelley also earned the title of Colonial Athletic Association Rookie of the Year and was named to the conference all-rookie team, as well as the All-CAA Second Team.

Throughout the season, Kelley was named CAA Rookie of the Week on three occasions (Sept. 11, Sept. 18 and Oct. 9) and was the only player in the league to be earn this honor more than twice. In addition, the Kentucky native was named CAA co-Player of the Week Oct. 9, as well as to the Men's College National Soccer Team of the Week by Top Drawer Soccer on the same day. In the Oct. 12 issue of Sports Illustrated, Kelley was featured in the `Faces in the Crowd' section and was also named to the `Best of the Rest' list by SoccerTimes.com.

Kelley saw action in net the entire 2006 season for the Patriots for a total of 1,997 minutes. Kelley ended the season ranked sixth in the nation in NCAA Division I competition in save percentage (0.879), 14th in goals against average (0.637) and 32nd in saves per game (4.86).

From Sept. 8-Oct. 8, Mason won nine-straight games, which was only the third time in school history this happened and the first since 1998. In these nine games, Kelley allowed only three goals and six of the eight shutouts during this period ended in a score of 1-0.

Mason closed out the 2006 campaign fourth in the CAA with an overall record of 12-6-3 and a 7-3-1 mark in league play. The Patriots played in the CAA Championship game for the first time since 2003, but Hofstra claimed the title with a 3-2 advantage on penalty kicks after the game was tied, 1-1. Then, for the first time in 10 years, Mason received an invitation to participate in the 2006 NCAA Championship and hosted Bucknell on Nov. 11, but fell by an overtime score of 1-0.

2006 Soccer America Men's All-Freshman Squads
First Team
F Andre Akpan (Harvard)
D Nick Cardenas (San Diego State)
F David Estrada (UCLA)
M Michael Farfan (Cal State Fullerton)
M Jeremy Hall (Maryland)
G Sean Kelley (George Mason)
M Stephen McCarthy (Santa Clara)
F Kyle Nakazawa (UCLA)
F Ryan Soroka (St. John's)
D Bakary Soumare (Virginia)
F Darren Yeagle (Indiana)
Second Team
G Jovan Bubonja (UIC)
D Greg Eckhardt (Clemson)
D Omar Gonzalez (Maryland)
M Ciaran O'Brien (San Diego)
D Ofori Sarkodie (Indiana)
F Zack Schilawski (Wake Forest)
D Chris Schuler (Creighton)
M Toni Stahl (Connecticut)
M Michael Stephens (UCLA)
M Jonathan Villanueva (Virginia)
D Rob Viviano (Saint Louis)
Soccer America's Men's Freshman of the Year: David Estrada (UCLA)