Schindler, Freitas and Ten Eyck earn Coach, Offensive and Defensive honors

Three Major Arena Soccer League 2 standouts were honored Thursday night in Wichita by commissioner Chris Economides for Coach of the Year, and Players of the Year for offense and defense.

Earning recognition for their 2023-24 accomplishments, Rochester Lancer Jake Schindler was honored as Coach of the Year. Offensive Player of the Year honors went to Thiago Freitas of the Iowa Demon Hawks, while Wichita's Kevin Ten Eyck earned Defensive Player of the Year recognition.  Awards were presented during a welcome dinner for this weekend's playoffs at Hartman Arena in Park City, Kansas.

"These three truly represent some of the best of the best the sport has to offer, regardless of the level of play," Economides said. "They are tremendous advocates and representatives for the sport, and offer excellence in everything they do. It's a privilege for me to be able to honor them for their accomplishments this past season, and I suspect none of them will be stopping any time soon for which the fans and the sport can be thankful."

Schindler was both a star behind the bench and on the floor in leading his team to the fifth perfect regular season in M2's seven-year history. Serving as player/coach, he has an extensive Major Arena Soccer League background. Schindler appeared in a whopping 206 MASL games with the Lancers, Syracuse Silver Knights, Florida Tropics, Utica City and the Baltimore Blast. He scored 41 goals and added 63 assists to go along with 177 career blocked shots.

This season for the Lancers, he appeared in 11 games with four goals and 18 assists, third overall on the team in points. Over the past two years, has played in 23 games for Rochester with seven goals and 27 assists.

Freitas set a league record for assists in a season with 26, to go along with 20 goals for 46 total points, second in the league to teammate Bruno Henrique. Also a MASL stalwart, in his career has played for the Florida Tropics, Harrisburg Heat and Orlando SeaWolves. In all, he played in 72 games with 42 goals and 62 assists. He has also been a force in the postseason. In five career MASL playoff starts, has five goals and three assists.

His 26 helpers this year tied a personal best. His previous high water mark for assists in a season. The celebrated playmaker also had 26 assists for the MASL Harrisburg Heat in 2017-18.

Ten Eyck continues to perform magic at both the offensive and defensive side of the field, and has long been a favorite of Wichita's "Orange Army." Given his quality of play, and longevity of service, M2’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2023-24 has earned his spot in the pantheon of Wichita Wings greats.

He played in 92 career games in the Major Arena Soccer League with the Kansas City Comets, Missouri Comets, Wichita Wings and Wichita B 52’s, scoring 41 goals and adding 19 assists. He also had 112 career blocked shots. Since joining the newest iteration of the Wings five seasons ago, he has played in 59 regular season games with 46 goals and 64 assists. This year, he was the  team’s second leading scorer with nine goals and 19 assists. His 19 assists was a career single season best . 

Ten Eyck was an NAIA All-American selection in his playing career for the Friends University Falcons. He graduated from Friends in 2009, and currently is an assistant coach there. 

The MASL 2 playoffs will be held this weekend in Wichita, with 10 games over three days culminating in the championship game Sunday after at 4 p.m. CDT at Hartman Arena in Park City, Kansas. 

Additional honors, including all-star teams, Rookie of the Year, Goalkeeper of the Year and MVP will be announced in the coming weeks. Winners were picked by league officials in consolation with select team representatives and stakeholders.