Five Pioneers Earn Coast-To-Coast Postseason Honors

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. – The Coast-to-Coast conference released its 2022 postseason awards on Wednesday afternoon, with several members of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville earning honors. Freshman Danny Gutzwiller was named Rookie of the Year, while junior Jack Gentilli and sophomore Clayton Lautenschlaeger joined Gutzwiller on the Coast-to-Coast First-Team. Sophomore Konrad Ziaja and freshman Alester Dawson were both named to the Second-Team, and the Pioneers coaches, led by Director of Soccer Sam Koenig, was recognized as the Coast-to-Coast Coaching Staff of the Year.

Gutzwiller started 16 of the 18 games he played and finished tied for second on the team with six goals while adding four assists. The freshman had a pair of multi-goal games, including the game-winner in a win over Cornell College on Oct. 19. The Peoria, Ill., native was sixth in the conference with 16 points, and ranked second on the Pioneers with 40 shots and 19 shots on goal.

Gentilli started all 18 games and led the team with seven goals and nine assists. The junior paced the conference in assists and ranked inside the top five in several other offensive categories, finishing second in shots (54), and placing third in both points (23) and goals. The Belleville native was named Coast-to-Coast Athlete of the Week on Sept. 19 after scoring four goals and tallying three assists over a three-game stretch. Gentilli finished with a team-high four game-winning goals, including the go-ahead goals in one-goal wins over Simpson and Concordia Wisconsin.

Lautenschlaeger anchored the back line for the Pioneers, starting all 18 games and recording one assist. The sophomore helped UW-Platteville finish second in the conference in goals against average at 1.33 and tallied his lone assist in a win over Simpson.

Ziaja started 17 of the 18 games he played and tallied three goals. The sophomore scored the game-winning goal in a 1-0 win over Dubuque on Sept. 27 and finished with 15 shots on the season.

Dawson was another strong presence on the back line for the Pioneers and contributed on the offensive attack with three goals and an assist. The freshman tallied a pair of game-winners early in the season against Carroll and Wheaton and recorded his assist in the season finale at UW-Whitewater.

In the program's first season in the Coast-to-Coast conference, Koenig guided the Pioneers to a 12-4-2 record, highlighted by a nine-game winning streak. UW-Platteville enters the conference championships as the third seed, and will face sixth-seeded Salisbury on Thursday at 1 p.m. in Salisbury, Md.