JOSH LAUX NAMED ODAC SOCCER COACH OF THE YEAR

(November 5, 2007) SALEM, VA – In just his fourth season as Hampden-Sydney soccer coach, Josh Laux has earned the honor of Old Dominion Athletic Conference Coach of the Year for 2007. A 2001 graduate and four-year soccer standout at Randolph-Macon College, Laux has won 34 games in his young career at Hampden-Sydney and has quickly built the Hampden-Sydney soccer program into a serious title contender.

This season was a breakout campaign for Laux and his Tigers. After a 1-4 start to the season, Laux guided the team to an outstanding finish, winning nine of his final thirteen regular season matches en route to a 10-5-3 regular season overall record, a 6-1-2 conference mark, and the No. 2 seed in the ODAC Tournament. The second-seed was the highest regular season conference finish since 2002 and the six ODAC wins were also the most since that same 2002 season.

The Tigers ended the year ranked No. 7 in the NSCAA/adidas South Region Poll and No. 8 in the d3kicks.com South Region Rankings.

Laux led his Tigers to a thrilling 2-1 ODAC Quarterfinal win over Eastern Mennonite, marking the first time since 2001 that Hampden-Sydney had reached the conference semifinals. Hampden-Sydney ended the year with an impressive 11-6-3 record.

"This award is a true testament to the effort that our team put forth this year," said Laux. "We had a very rocky start, but in the end our guys stayed together, battled adversity, and went on to have a very strong season, losing just one game in a conference that is, without a doubt, one of the top soccer conferences in the nation."

Laux and assistant coach Matt Cooper worked their magic with a unit that consisted of just three seniors, and by the end of the season started four freshmen - midfielder Matt Hampton (Virginia Beach, VA/Kellam), goalkeeper John Robert Plyler (Charlotte, NC/Myers Park) and defenders Matt Swaney (Potomac Falls, VA/Potomac Falls) and Sam Turner (Richmond, VA/Benedictine). Laux gives Cooper credit for his valuable contributions to the squad.

"I would like to specifically recognize our assistant coach, Matt Cooper," Laux said. "Matt has been instrumental to our success since joining our team in 2006. This year in particular, Matt made some crucial decisions that really put our team on the right path. His knowledge, input and relationships with our players have been invaluable to our soccer program here at Hampden-Sydney."

The Tigers are poised to return all eleven starters next season and will most certainly be a favorite to claim the program's first ODAC Championship.

-www.hsc.edu/athletics-