Atlanta Soccer News: Art, Music and Culture: College Alert: Berry College men’s soccer team earned seven Southern Athletic Association all conference awards.

The Berry College men’s soccer team earned seven Southern Athletic Association all conference awards.

Berry head coach Richard Vardy was tabbed the SAA Coach of the Year for the second time in three years.

Vardy directed Berry to a 13-7-1 record, an SAA Tournament title and to the second round of NCAA Championships. Vardy has a career record of 178-66-17 (.714 winning percentage) in his 14th season at Berry. A native of York, England, he earned two conference and three regional coach of the year honors in Berry’s NAIA era.

The Vikings placed three senior student-athlete on the SAA’s first team: Matt Williams, Zak Wallingford and Christian Fulbright.

A defender from Cumming, Georgia, Williams led a stingy Berry defense which allowed just 21 goals in 21 games.

A team captain, Williams recorded one assist and was recently named to the College Sports Information Directors of America District team.

Wallingford shared the honor for most points on the team with 17 (6 goals five assists). He posted six game-winning goals including the golden goal in Berry’s NCAA tournament win at Emory on Friday night.

Fulbright also netted six goals and five assists for the Vikings. A native of Cumming, he was credited with five game-winners and started all 21 games this year.

Jon Nelson and Caleb Ford were tabbed to the SAA’s second team. A goalkeeper from Atlanta, Nelson posted a 12-6-1 record and a save percentage of .824. Ford, a freshman defender from Black Mountain, North Carolina helped the team to a 0.98 goals against average.

Freshman Bobby Grunow earned SAA Honorable Mention recognition. He managed to score three goals from his defensive position.