WC men's soccer ends season with 5 All-OAC honorees

Pictured (l-r) are Parker Burke, Alfie Harris, Randy Harris, Jace Houck and Kaden Young. (Wilmington College photos)
The Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) announced their all-conference teams Thursday afternoon, and the Wilmington Quakers had five athletes honored.
Senior Randy Harris was named a First-Team forward, freshman Parker Burke was named a Second-Team forward, senior Alfie Harris was named a Second-Team midfielder, junior Kaden Young was named a Third-Team forward and sophomore Jace Houck was named a Third-Team midfielder.
Burke was also named the OAC Freshman of the Year and is the first Quakers player ever to earn this honor in men’s soccer.
Randy Harris (Queens Royal College/Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago) transferred in this season from Malone University and made an immediate impact. In his first game as a Quaker against Mount St. Joseph University, Harris scored a goal and dished out an assist while putting three shots on goal. It was more of the same from him throughout the season, as he finished the year as the only player on the team with double-digit assists and double-digit goals.
Harris’s 12 assists were good for second in the OAC and tied for 11th in NCAA Division III. This number is also second in program history for a single season during the Quakers NCAA era of soccer (since 1991). He scored 10 goals, which was fourth in the OAC, and his 32 points was also fourth in the OAC.
Parker Burke (Legacy Christian Academy/Xenia, Ohio) had a historically good season for the Quakers. He tied the program record with 22 goals and added five assists for 49 total points, which was fourth in program history for a single season. His 22 goals tied for third in the country and his 49 points was sixth in the country.
Burke had four multiple goal games this season and one game with five goals against Franklin College. The five-goal performance tied for second in program history for a single game, while the 10 points was good for a tie for third in a single game. Burke scored two or more points in 14 of the Quakers 20 games.
Alfie Harris (North Molton, England), the captain of the Quakers, helped lead the team to a 11-6-3 overall record and a berth in the OAC tournament. Harris scored three goals and dished out two assists, while essentially serving as a coach on the field for the Quakers, never coming out of the game unless Wilmington held a big lead. He was a great player for the younger players to look up to and will be sorely missed next season for Wilmington.
Kaden Young (West Salem HS/Salem, Ore.) was the Quakers’ sharpshooter this season, scoring on several set pieces and was four for four on penalty kicks. He scored 16 goals and had four assists for 36 points. His goal total and point total were both second in the OAC.
Young had a four-goal game in conference play against Heidelberg University and recorded multiple goals in four games this season. Another impressive stat for Young was that over half of his 30 shots found the back of the net.
Jace Houck (Bethel HS/New Carlisle, Ohio) was another transfer for the Quakers, coming in from Ohio Dominican University. Houck was an assist machine for the Quakers, dishing out 11, while also scoring two goals for 15 points from the midfield. He was third in the OAC in assists and had a season high three assists in the Quakers win at Wittenberg University.
The biggest goal Houck scored this season was against John Carroll University, where he scored to tie the game at 1-1. Houck always found a way this season to squeeze the ball through multiple defenders to an open player for a goal.
The Wilmington men’s soccer team was a fun group to watch, and they will look to improve on their record next season, as they search for a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
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