The PDL season came to an end last weekend, but before the Championship game was played, the league announced a few individual honors for players around the country.

A few of them have Carolina ties, one of them earned one of the biggest awards of all…

PDL Golden Boot

Marek Weber

After an impressive 18-goal performance in 2018, SC United’s Marek Weber earned the PDL Golden Boot award for most goals scored in the entire country. Weber is a grad student transfer who starred at Le Moyne College this fall where he recorded 18 goals as well.

The 6'3" German is the first player in SC United’s PDL history to win the Golden Boot and has the tools to make the jump to a USL team in need of a big, goal-scoring #9. Anyone know of any teams looking for one of those?

It kind of goes without saying that if you lead the league in goals scored, you end up on the All-League team, and Weber did just that. Along with becoming the first Bantams player to earn the Golden Boot, Weber was also the first Bantam to earn a spot on the All-League First-Team.

Speaking of the All-League team, there are a few other players from the Carolinas making an appearance as well.

All-League Team

Callum Montgomery

Victoria Highlanders/UNC-Charlotte — Montgomery is a native of Vancouver, BC but plays his college ball in the Queen City for the Charlotte 49ers. He was named to the All-League team after playing 882 minutes in 10 games for the Highlanders. A defender, Montgomery scored two goals, tied for the team lead, for a Victoria team that finished 5–9–0 on the season.

For the 49ers, Montgomery is entering his senior season and has started 50 of his 52 career games, adding eight goals. The defender ended the PDL season ranked as the #19 Top Prospect in the country.

The 49ers kick off their 2018 season at home on August 24 against Florida Gulf Coast at 7:00 p.m.

Jordan Skelton

Mississippi Brilla FC/Lander University — The Newcastle, England native earned a spot on the PDL All-League team after helping Brilla post four clean sheets and playing all 1260 minutes this season. He was also named the PDL Defender of the Year for 2018.

The Lander Bearcats, located in Greenwood, S.C., and Skelton posted eight clean sheets before losing to Young Harris in the NCAA D2 Tournament last fall. Skelton enters his senior year with Lander having started 53 of his 54 career games and having scored eight of his nine career goals in 2017. He ended the PDL season as the #6 Top Prospect in the country.

Lander kicks off their 2018 season at home on August, 31st against Alabama-Huntsville.

There were also a few players from the South Atlantic that earned All-Eastern Conference honors following the season.

All-Eastern Conference Team

For the Myrtle Beach Mutiny, Ricardo Gomez earned First-Team All-Eastern Conference in 2018, while Jon Ander Ibarrondo and Romario Piggott earned Honorable Mention All-Conference nominations.

Gomez earns his second straight All-Eastern Conference award, following a 2017 season that saw him also earn an All-League selection for helping the Mutiny to the 2017 South Atlantic title. Gomez finished his collegiate career at USF last season.

Ibarrondo and Piggott led the Mutiny in scoring in 2018. Ibarrondo had nine goals and three assists, while Piggott had six goals and six assists. Ibarrondo helped lead Wingate University to the 2016 NCAA D2 title before finishing his career in 2017 for the Bulldogs. Piggott returns to the Grand Strand where he will star for Coastal Carolina this season.

Myrtle Beach wasn’t the only South Atlantic team to get some recognition: Mauricio Pineda from Tobacco Road FC and Chase Rhode of North Carolina FC U23 earned Honorable Mention All-Conference selections as well.

Pineda, a member of the UNC team for the past two seasons, played in nine games for the Bulls registering a goal and an assist. In his two seasons at Chapel Hill, Pineda has started 38 of his 43 career games and added seven goals and two assists.

Rhode is a Cary, NC native who began his collegiate career at Wake Forest before transferring to UC Davis where he recently graduated and was named Team MVP. For the Baby Dead Whales, Rhode played the second most minutes (1165) over the season while adding a goal from his defensive position. Rhode was also named the UC Davis Student Athlete of the Year for the 2017 season.

Last weekend, Calgary Foothills FC won the PDL National Championship over Eastern Conference champion Reading United. That puts a bow on the 2018 PDL season, and with the NPSL season done as well, we now switch our attention to USL, NWSL, and the upcoming collegiate soccer seasons.

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