NORTH ATTLEBORO, Mass. - Soccer Free or Die! The Northeast 10's three New Hampshire schools swept the league's men's soccer end-of-season awards, the conference office announced on Tuesday. Franklin Pierce's Guille Rios is the 2026 NE10 Player of the Year while Saint Anselm coach Bruno Victal is the Coach of the Year. Regular season champion Southern New Hampshire claimed the remaining honors: Defensive Player of the Year (Gabriel Castro), Goalkeeper of the Year (Alvaro Garcia) and Rookie of the Year (Dani Bujanda).
Rios led the Northeast 10 in scoring this fall, finding the back of the net 16 times -- third-most in Division II. The Paraguay native scored in 11 of the 17 games Franklin Pierce played and had five multi-goal performances. Four of his braces came against conference foes and 14 goals came in the flow of play, with only two coming off penalties. The season was a massive jump forward during Rios's second season in Rindge, pumping his numbers from six goals and four assists as a first-year junior in 2025. This marks the ninth time a Raven has won Player of the Year and the first since Youness Addar Khanoussi in 2023.
The remaining student-athlete honors were swept by conference champion Southern New Hampshire. Gabriel Castro was named Defensive Player of the Year. It's the second time in three years a Penmen has earned the award after Liam Evans (now a Pace assistant) in 2024. Castro was the NE10 Rookie of the Year in 2024
Alvaro Garcia is the NE10 Goalkeeper of the Year -- also the second Penmen in a three year span to win the award, following Preston Neal in 2024.
SNHU led the NE10 in defense this fall, allowing 10 goals on the season and 10 fewer than the next closest team. Only four teams nationally allowed fewer goals than SNHU and that defense backboned the Penmen to an 11-1-4 regular season record.
The top rookie is Dani Bujanda. The Spaniard is a 2x Rookie of the Week and scored five goals with eight assists debuting stateside.
Finally, Saint Anselm coach Bruno Victal is the NE10 Coach of the Year. The Hawks were picked eighth in the league preseason before riding a strong finish to a fourth-place slot and a home game i nthe opening round of the NE10 Championship. This is the first honor for Victal and the first for a Hawk's manager since Ed Cannon in 1999.
The complete NE10 All-Conference teams are listed below.
Player of the Year: Guille Rios, Franklin Pierce
Defensive Player of the Year: Gabriel Castro, SNHU
Goalkeeper of the Year: Alvaro Garcia, SNHU
Rookie of the Year: Dani Bujanda, SNHU
Coach of the Year: Bruno Victal, Saint Anselm
First Team
F: Guille Rios, FPU
F: Inigo Burusco, SNHU
F: Cody Holbert, Assumption
F: Max-Paul Busnel, AIC
M: Alejo Caceres, SNHU
M: James Mitchell, FPU
M: Marc Tasies Minguell, AIC
M: Miguel Gimeno, SNHU
D: Gabriel Castro, SNHU
D: Joaco Lauria, FPU
D: Eduardo Maia, FPU
D: Marco Cabrera, AIC
GK: Alvaro Garcia, SNHU
Second Team
F: Chance Prouty, Saint Anselm
F: Zain Suterwalla, Adelphi
F: Liam Smith, AIC
F: Sandro Alvarez Jimenez, AIC
M: Paul Espinoza, AIC
M: Jorgo Karamelo, Assumption
M: Dani Bujanda. SNHU
M: Michael Gouvin, Bentley
D: Gabi Barroso, SNHU
D: Alex Pons, SNHU
D: Filippo Perini, Bentley
D: Matt McAuliffe, Bentley
GK: Javier Sola Martinez, AIC
Third Team
F: Eduard Fandunyan, SNHU
F: Antonio Di Gaudio, Bentley
F: Dani Almeida, FPU
F: Evan Conceicao, Assumption
M: Agustin Soldo, Adelphi
M: Tyler Ferreira, AIC
M: Brian Jones, Saint Anselm
M: Gisli Agustsson, Southern Connecticut
D: Daniel Sierra Arias, AIC
D: Yves Maurer, Saint Anselm
D: Ludvig Svegart, Assumption
D: Joseph Blackton, Adelphi
GK: Alessandro Bizzini, Bentley
All-Rookie Team
Sandro Alvare Jimenez, AIC
Ludvig Svegart, Assumption
Dani Bujanda, SNHU
Vigo Frank, SNHU
Gisli Agustsson, Southern Connecticut
William Britton, FPU
Samuel Wraith, Adelphi
Finn turner, Adelphi
Eric Garcia, Pace
Acland Zhang, Pace
Alfred Levin Nyren, AIC
Marc Tasies Minguell, AIC
Kaiden Martin, Saint Anselm
ABOUT THE NE10
The NE10 is an association of 10 diverse institutions serving student-athletes across 24 NCAA Division II sports. Together we build brilliant futures by embracing the journey of every student-athlete.
Each year, 4,500 of those student-athletes compete in conference championships in 24 sports, making the NE10 the largest DII conference in the country in terms of sport sponsorship. Leading the way in the classroom, on the field and within the community, the NE10 is proud of its comprehensive program and the experience it provides student-athletes.
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