Okawa and Birch Collect United Soccer Coaches All-Region Honors
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – UNC Greensboro (UNCG) men's soccer senior midfielders Yoshiya Okawa and Jack Birch earned 2024 United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Men's All-South Region recognition, the organization announced.
Okawa was named to the second team while Birch was recognized on the third team. It marks the first United Soccer Coaches All-Region Team honors for both student-athletes.
UNCG's two honorees brought The Southern Conference (SoCon) total to four awardees with the other two being goalkeeper Aaron Salinas from Furman and forward Gabriel Ramos from East Tennessee State.
Yoshiya Okawa
United Soccer Coaches NCAA DI Men's All-South Region Second Team
Senior | Midfielder | Tokyo, Japan
- CSC Academic All-District® Team
- SoCon Player of the Year
- All-SoCon First Team
- SoCon Regular Season Co-Champion
- TopDrawerSoccer Team of the Week (Oct. 15)
- Led the SoCon in goals (8) and points (20)
- Played in 16 games and started in 13 contests
Jack Birch
United Soccer Coaches NCAA DI Men's All-South Region Third Team
Senior | Midfielder | Birmingham, England
- All-SoCon First Team
- SoCon Regular Season Co-Champion
- Fifth on the team with two goals and two assists for six points
- Second on the team with 1,484 minutes played
- Played and started in all 17 matches during the season
- Played the entire 90 minutes of a match 11 times during the season as well as all 110 minutes during the SoCon Semifinals
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Founded in 1941 and based in Kansas City, Mo., United Soccer Coaches has grown into the world's largest soccer coaches' organization that serves members at every level of the game. United Soccer Coaches works every day to inspire coaches and ignite their passion for the game so they pass it on to players and others in the soccer community.
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