USL News Release
Friday, August 28, 2009
RICHMOND, VA – United Soccer Leagues announced its final awards for the 2009 USL Second Division regular season at the USL-2 Championship banquet, honoring Richmond’s Yomby William as Defender of the Year and the Wilmington duo of David Irving and Jamie Watson as Coach of the Year and Most Valuable Player, respectively.
The Wilmington Hammerheads captured the regular season championship for the first time in the club’s 14 year history with a 12-5-3 record under the guidance of Irving, who has been with the team since 1999 and boasts a combined regular season record of 109-69-40. The Coach of the Year honor could arguably be considered overdue for Irving, who led the club to back-to-back finals in 2002 and 2003, claiming the league championship in his second try.
The Hammerheads coach attracted the spotlight in 2009 after three sub-par seasons in which the club posted only four victories in each, righting the ship this season with a campaign that included a 7-2-2 record against the four other clubs that advanced to the playoffs – a mark nearly 20 percent better than second-place Richmond’s 4-2-4.
Leading the way on the pitch was Watson, who was honored as an All-League selection earlier in the week and captured the Scoring Championship with 30 points off 12 goals and six assists. He also nearly captured the Goal Scoring title, only to be eclipsed by one in their regular season finale against Richmond, whose Matthew Delicate scored twice to take the honor. He also ranked tied for third in assists with teammate Kenny Bundy earning that honor with nine.
Wilmington led the league in scoring with 42 strikes on the year, besting Charlotte’s total by two and Richmond by three. Watson became the first Hammerheads player to earn the league’s Most Valuable Player honor as well as either of the league scoring titles in the team’s 14 years in the league. The 22-year old from Texas played with the Austin Aztex Premier Development League squad last year, posting seven goals and three assists in 13 games after spending the previous four seasons in Major League Soccer with Real Salt Lake (2005-07) and FC Dallas (2008). He returned to North Carolina, where he was a Tar Heel in college.
Taking home the Defender of the Year honor was Yomby William after helping guide the Kickers to a tie for first in the league table in points with a record of 11-3-6, playing in 18 of the 20 matches and contributing two assists. Richmond finished with the fewest goals allowed in the league at 18, two better than Baltimore and five better than third-best Harrisburg. He joined the club this season after only seeing action in five games last year as a rookie with the USL First Division Puerto Rico Islanders, logging just 449 minutes. The Camaroon native earned USL-2 Team of the Week honors seven times, more than any other Kickers player.
