ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Macalester College men's soccer team announced its year-end awards for the 2024 season at its banquet on Dec. 8. Each award was voted on by the players, who selected a Most Valuable Player, Most Improved Player, Newcomer of the Year and S.M.A.R.T. Award winner.

Head coach Gregg Olson described each award winner.

Volker Dohmen Award for the Most Valuable Player: Senior Hans Haenicke (Lisle, Ill./Benet Academy) 
For the second year in a row, Hans was voted the MVP for his efforts during the 2025 season. In the words of a teammate, Hans "terrorized teams' back lines all year long," scoring 12 goals and adding four assists. Of those 12 goals, six of them were game winning efforts. In addition to scoring many big goals, Hans was the team's emotional leader. For his efforts, Hans was named All-MIAC for the fourth time and first team All-Region for the third year in a row. Impressively only two players were previously All-MIAC four times (Matt Jackson 1988-1991 and Roger Bridge 1988-1991) and only one other Scot in the history of the men's Soccer program was All-Region three or more times (Nick Adams in 1994-1996).

Most Improved Players: Junior Ondieki Maina (Kensington, Calif./El Cerrito) and sophomore Michael Myers (San Rafael, Calif./Marin Catholic)
Both Ondieki and Michael had great seasons for the Scots. Ondieki transitioned to a new position from the middle of the field to out wide and at times in the back line. He has an incredible change of pace and ability to beat players 1v1. Ondieki was great from day 1 of preseason and only slowed down when he was sidelined by an injury at the midpoint of our season. Michael began the season as a substitute, but earned his starting position after only a third of the way through the season. Michael is incredibly fast and gained his confidence throughout the season. He consistently was able to track down opponents' attackers or extinguish broken plays to cover our back line. While Ondieki's growth came comparing last season to this season, Michael's development happened within the season.

Newcomer of the Year: First year Luc van der Graaf (Amsterdam, Netherlands/Het 4e Gymnasium)
Luc arrived on campus with high expectations of making an immediate impact. And, he did not let anyone down with his overall talent. A teammate said, "Luc showed his quality throughout the entire season, rarely losing the ball or even a tackle." Outside of goalkeeper Sam Price (Chicago, Ill./Lane Tech), Luc played more minutes than any other player on the team. An excellent all-around player, Luc has a tremendously bright future.

S.M.A.R.T. Award: Senior Alexis Bromberg (Palo Alto, Calif./Henry M. Gunn)
The honor of being named the program's winner of this award was given to senior Alexis Bromberg. "Lex" was one of the captains this year having earned the title from his years of being a leader amongst his peers. One of his teammates said, "Through a challenging season of ups and downs, Lex remained steadfast and a strong and selfless player and person supporting the team and not getting caught up in personal success or failure." Lex does all of the little things to ensure that the program thrived. His leadership and steady nature will be missed greatly.