Moon Township, Pa. – Sophomore forward
Neco Brett (Kingston, Jamaica / Excelsior) was named the Northeast Conference Player of the Year as announced by the conference Thursday night. Senior midfielder
Miro Cabrilo (Hamilton, Ontario / Glendale Secondary) and sophomore midfielder
Bruce Cullen (Pickering, Ontario / Pine Ridge) join Brett on the All-NEC First Team while junior midfielder
Devon Williams (Kingston, Jamaica / St. Georges) was named to the All-NEC Second Team.
Brett is the third player in team history, and first since
Rhian Dodds in 2002, to earn NEC Player of the Year honors. This also marks the first time since 2006 RMU has had four players on the all-conference team, and the 2013 squad joins the 1992 team as the only ones to have three members on the first team in years the league has had more than one all-conference squad.
"I think it's a well-deserved honor for Neco," said RMU head coach
Bill Denniston. "I'm really looking forward to having him on our team for the next two years."
Brett led the nation in regular season scoring registering 36 points, one point shy of the RMU regular-season record of 37 set by Major League Soccer draft pick
Musa Shannon in 1996. Brett scored 14 goals, second most nationally, and his eight assists place him just outside the top 10. In RMU annals, his goal-scoring output places him third all-time and he is tied for fifth in assists.
The sophomore's breakout performance came at the end of the non-conference season. He scored three goals in a 3-1 win over Buffalo and then scored twice as RMU beat George Washington. That ended a four-game goal scoring streak, a three-week period that saw him tally seven goals and two assists for 16 points.
The Jamaican-born striker scored in the team's last four games, a time in which he also showed he could set up goals. Brett tallied three assists in a 5-0 win over Sacred Heart and followed with two more helpers in a 4-1 rout of Howard.
Cabrilo caps a career in which he started every single game with his first All-NEC honor. The Canadian-born midfielder increased his point total each season finishing 2013 with 14 points on four goals and six assists. His 45 career points leave him eighth all-time in RMU annals. He is also eighth all-time with 14 career goals and stands tied for fifth with 13 assists.
Cullen led the NEC with nine assists this year, one ahead of teammate Brett. The nine helpers tie for third in the Colonials single-season record books. The sophomore midfielder also scored four times to finish with 17 points, putting him tied for fifth in the league this season.
Williams earned a second team nod, the first postseason award of his now three-year career. A junior midfielder, Williams recorded 10 points. He had six assists, putting him tied for third in the league, to go along with two goals. In three seasons, the Kingston, Jamaica-native has tallied 18 points with four goals and 10 assists.
As a team, RMU led the NEC in points with 104, 33 more than second-place Saint Francis University. The Colonials also led the conference in goals (36), assists (36) and shots (291). All of those marks led the league by a wide margin.
