Here’s the 2018 Lexington All-City Boys’ Soccer Team
There was so much parity in Lexington boys’ soccer this year that the city’s coaches couldn’t even determine one Player of the Year winner.
Bryan Station’s Diallo Irakoze and Henry Clay’s Sota Ippongi were named Co-Players of the Year following a vote among the coaches at Lexington’s nine KHSAA boys’ soccer programs — each received 158 of a possible 176 points after balloting.
Irakoze, a senior, led Bryan Station to a 15-5-1 record, its first 42nd District championship and its first appearance in the 11th Region Tournament. Ippongi, a junior, scored a team-high nine goals for the Blue Devils, who won the 11th Region and fell to defending champion St. Xavier, 1-0, in the state semifinals.
Each player was joined by a teammate on the First Team — Eddy Irumva for Bryan Station and Charlie Boone for Henry Clay. Paul Laurence Dunbar’s Eddy Andrade finished second in All-City voting and was accompanied by teammate Pedro Jiminez on the First Team.
Lexington Catholic’s Brian Banahan was fourth in voting and teammate Jackson Kirn gave the Knights two First Team picks. Lafayette also had two First Team selections in Jace Burt and Ty Matthews. Tates Creek’s Ben Kaindu rounded out the First Team.
Methodology: Coaches were asked to nominate up to five players from their own teams and then to rank their top 22 players in the city, excluding players on their own team. Points were assigned to each ranking (22 points for No. 1, 21 points for No. 2, 20 points for No. 3, etc.) and the total sum of points across all ballots determined the final ranking of players.
2018 All-City Boys’ Soccer Team
(First Team and Second Team listed in order of most points received.)
FIRST TEAM
t1. Sota Ippongi, Henry Clay (jr.)
t1. Diallo Irakoze, Bryan Station (sr.)
3. Eddy Andrade, Paul Laurence Dunbar (sr.)
4. Brian Banahan, Lexington Catholic (sr.)
5. Eddy Irumva, Bryan Station (sr.)
6. Pedro Jimenez, Paul Laurence Dunbar (sr.)
7. Jace Burt, Lafayette (sr.)
8. Charlie Boone, Henry Clay (jr.)
9. Ben Kaindu, Tates Creek (jr.)
10. Ty Matthews, Lafayette (sr.)
11. Jackson Kirn, Lexington Catholic (sr.)
SECOND TEAM
12. Ivan Nkinzo, Bryan Station (so.)
13. Kaleb Cisenius, Tates Creek (sr.)
14. Taco Nsimpasi, Lexington Christian (so.)
15. Jean-Claude Bukorimana, Frederick Douglass (so.)
16. Tahj Jairam, Henry Clay (so.)
17. Kevin Jing, Paul Laurence Dunbar (sr.)
18. Justin Puckett, Lafayette (jr.)
19. Luke Harrington, Tates Creek (jr.)
20. Spencer Waldrop, Tates Creek (jr.)
21. Tommy Svetich, Henry Clay (jr.)
22. Ben Oser, Paul Laurence Dunbar (jr.)
HONORABLE MENTION
(All other players who were nominated by coaches)
Bryan Station: Braxton Funk, Max Miller
Frederick Douglass: Ryan Leigeb, Innocent Lumona, Luis Morales, Kingsley Nuro
Henry Clay: Cayden Rose
Lafayette: Gabe Batsos, Trevor Matthews
Lexington Catholic: Michael Duzyk, Christon Jackson, Santiago Peralta
Lexington Christian: Andrew Dobbs, Dawson Hendrickson, Gavin Howard, Phillip Scott
Paul Laurence Dunbar: Jed French
Sayre: Trey Atkins, Matthew Bernard, Levy Deckard, Will Graves, Wick Hallos
Tates Creek: Iori Leguizamo
This story was originally published November 27, 2018 at 12:53 PM.