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St. John’s Cooksley, Enstrom, Shearer win postseason Big East honors

Well-deserved awards

By Brendan Myers
Wendell Cruz

On Friday afternoon the Big East Conference revealed its 2017 post season awards. After St. John’s’ surprising year in the Big East, the team had multiple honorees.

The two notables come from position player awards.

English midfielder/forward Harry Cooksley took home Big East Midfielder of the Year, and Swedish defender David Enstrom took home Big East Defender of the year.

Cooksley had racked up three goals and five assists, despite missing five games earlier in the season due to a knee injury. Cooksley picked up another three assists in last weekend’s win over Creighton, but those were not counted into the conference’s decision.

Enstrom was a major contributor to one of the conference’s best defenses. The team had eight shutouts and only allowed .62 goals per game during the regular season. Enstrom, who transferred from Buffalo after they disbanded their men’s soccer program, left his signature moment on the program on October 28 when he scored the winning goal against 10th ranked Georgetown on the Red Storm’s senior night.

Both Cooksley and Enstrom were also named to the conference’s All-Big East First team.

The last Red Storm member honored was Jack Shearer, who was named a unanimous selection to the Big East Freshman team. A huge part of the team’s turnaround from the beginning of the season was Shearer. He’s been a do-it-all forward for the team, showing that he can hold possession as a true number nine, score goals, and set his teammates up.

Heading into the postseason, Shearer totaled nine points, with three goals, and three assists. All three of his goals in his first season came in Big East Conference play.

The most notable snub is St. John’s star goalkeeper Andrew Withers. Butler’s Eric Dick won the conference’s Big East Goalkeeper of the year. Withers also anchored the defense to eight shutouts in seventeen games, and saved almost 85% of shots that came his way. The team only gave up five goals in the entirety of conference play.

St. John’s continues the Big East Tournament on Wednesday at 1 PM against Georgetown in Washington DC.

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