First-year University of Toronto Varsity Blues midfielder Yousef Helmy was named the East rookie of the year as Ontario University Athletics (OUA) announced the 2015 OUA men's soccer major awards and all-stars on Wednesday afternoon.

The Blues also boast five OUA all-stars as goalkeeper Rab Bruce-Lockhart (Victoria), defenders Lukas MacNaughton (Brussels, Belgium) and Devon Bowyer (Toronto), and midfielder Nikolay Saveliev (Nagoya, Japan) have been named to the first team, while forward Nirun Sivananthan of Brampton, Ont., has been selected to the second-team. 

After a season in which he appeared in every game during his rookie season, Helmy (Mississauga, Ont.) has been named OUA East division rookie of the year.  Helmy, a kinesiology major, started in all but one of the Blues games this season, with the 5-foot-11 midfielder finding the back of the net once in his freshman campaign.  However, it was his strong playmaking abilities that helped to pace the well-balanced Blues attack.

Starting in 13 games this season for the Blues, Bruce-Lockhart went 9-3-1 with a 0.62 goals against average and .830 save percentage good for 3rd and 4th position, respectively, in the conference.

Combine that with the strong defensive prowess of MacNaughton and Bowyer, now a three-time OUA all-star, Toronto was one of the stingiest teams in the conference, allowing only 11 goals against in 16 games.  When MacNaughton, who boasts his second straight all-star nod, wasn't helping keep the ball out of the net, he showed he could find the back of it, as he finished tied for second on the team with three goals. 

Saveliev proved to be stalwart up the middle for the Blues this season, as the third-year criminology major was the only Toronto player to play in and start all 16 regular season games.  Sivanathan has been named an OUA second-team all-star after a season in which he led Toronto with 6 goals.

The OUA Men's Soccer Final Four Championship begins on Friday at 11:00am with the first semifinal matchup between the McMaster Marauders and Ryerson Rams, followed by University of Toronto Varsity Blues taking on the host York Lions.  All games this weekend will be take place at York University Stadium and will be streamed live on OUA.tv.

EAST DIVISION MAJOR AWARDS

Most Valuable Player – Raheem Rose – Ryerson Rams
Rookie of the Year – Yousef Helmy – Toronto Varsity Blues
Coach of the Year – Filip Prostran – Ryerson Rams
Community Service Award – Michael Calof – Carleton Ravens

EAST DIVISION FIRST-TEAM ALL-STARS

Rab Bruce-Lockhart – Toronto Varsity Blues – Goalkeeper
Lukas MacNaughton – Toronto Varsity Blues – Defender
Kyle Stewart – Ryerson Rams – Defender
Devon Bowyer – Toronto Varsity Blues – Defender
Michael Calof – Carleton Ravens – Defender
Raheem Rose – Ryerson Rams – Midfielder
Martin Dybrowski – Ryerson Rams – Midfielder
Nikolay Saveliev – Toronto Varsity Blues – Midfielder
Theodore Lopez de Castilla – Carleton Ravens – Midfielder
Nick Lambis – Ryerson Rams – Forward
Andrew Bryan – Carleton Ravens – Forward
 
EAST DIVISION SECOND-TEAM ALL-STARS

Felix Daigle – Carleton Ravens – Goalkeeper
Kristian Zanette – Queen's Gaels – Defender
Sam Abernathy – Queen's Gaels – Defender
Neil Franke – Laurentian Voyageurs – Defender
Cole Giffin – Laurentian Voyageurs – Defender
Omar Allison – Laurentian Voyageurs – Midfielder
Oliver Coren – Queen's Gaels – Midfielder
Jean-Michel Paulin – Nipissing Lakers – Midfielder
Erik Petrovic – UOIT Ridgebacks – Midfielder
Nirun Sivananthan – Toronto Varsity Blues – Forward
Jacob Schroeter – Queen's Gaels – Forward

Source: OUA