Northeast College Conference two-time champion University of Maine-Presque Isle not only placed five players on the All-NECC team, but sophomore striker Darren Clukey was named the Most Valuable Player and second-year coach Alan Gordon was chosen the Coach of the Year.

Clukey was joined on the All-NECC team by teammates midfielder Darren Collins, stopper John Hafford, midfielder Todd Drinkwater and striker Kevin Hamel; University of Maine-Fort Kent MFs Taddesse Abebe and John Mattola, sweeper Mathew Gwan-Nulla and striker Blake Lindstedt; Unity College goalie Rick Dreves and fullback Pete Ruksznis and UM-Machias MF Keith Williams.

Hamel, Drinkwater, Hafford, Mattola, Lindstedt, Gwan-Nulla and Williams were all repeat selections from a year ago.

Clukey was the conference’s leading scorer with 13 goals and eight assists as the Owls chalked up a 6-7-2 record, 5-1 in the NECC.

“This is a great honor,” said Clukey, who transferred to UMPI from Southern Vermont College last spring. “I was very surprised. Coming into the season, I just wanted to be a regular. All I wanted to do was help the team out as much as possible.”

The 6-foot, 160-pound Clukey, a 1991 graduate of Dexter High School who made the adjustment from long-time midfielder to striker, gave a lot of credit to Gordon and his teammates.

“Coach Gordon and the players on the team made the adjustment easy for me,” said Clukey. “The halfbacks and wings were always giving me the right pass to score. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have scored that many goals.”

Clukey also said Gordon had a very productive talk with him after he had hit nine goalposts in his first five games.

“He told me I was stressing out too much,” said Clukey. “He told me just to let things happen. I started to relax.”

Gordon said Clukey was “the outstanding offensive player in the league.

“He’s really good in the air,” added Gordon. “He created a lot of good situations off crosses. Not many players could mark him. When he was on, he could put the ball where he wanted. He has good speed for his size and a lot of desire.”

The 28-year-old Gordon, also a Dexter native, was honored by his Coach-of-the-Year award.

“I was pleased to be voted Coach-of-the-Year by my peers,” said Gordon. “There are some quality coaches in the league.

“I’ve got to give a lot of credit to our players,” added Gordon. “Once a game starts, you can’t do anything (as a coach). They really worked hard to play the style of (ball control) game that the top teams play.”

Clukey said Gordon deserved the award.

“Coach put a lot of time and effort into it and he was consistent,” said Clukey. “Every player knew what he wanted from them and he was always firm. And if you had a problem, you could go to him.”

Drinkwater (1 goal, 3 assists) and Collins (0 & 3) controlled the midfield for the Owls; Hafford (2 & 3) anchored the defense after making the transition from the midfield and the speedy Hamel (3 & 3) was a constant threat on the wing. For UMFK, Lindstedt (12 & 7) and Mattola (9 & 5) were the conference’s second and third leading scorers while defensive midfielder Abebe (4 & 0) and sweeper Gwan-Nulla were rock solid all season long.

Dreves had a 2.60 goals-against average and made 182 saves for Unity and Ruksznis was very consistent in the back for the youthful Rams. Williams was a standout offensively and defensively for UMM.