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First, the men's list, as this one took me a little by surprise. Junior goalkeeper Charlie Lyon was named to the Best XI Second Team, and because there's only one keeper on each of the three teams they named, that makes Lyon the second best keeper in the country by the way TDS is keeping score. Only the superb Andre Blake from Connecticut is in front of Lyon.
Hang on, I need to go lie down for a minute.
[breathes into a paper bag]
Seriously, I'm floored by this. It's a spoiler for tomorrow's Big East preseason award predictions post, but I didn't pick Lyon as the Big East keeper of the year, instead opting for Rafael Diaz from St. John's. Diaz managed to get onto the postseason all conference first team with Blake last year, so I figured he was a shoo-in and/or I didn't want homerism to creep in to my picks.
Ok, let's keep going. Two more Golden Eagles also pop up on the Best XI Third Team. Sophomore defender Axel Sjoberg and senior midfielder Bryan Ciesiulka made it into the list of the 33 best players in the country.
If we expand the focus to the rest of the Big East, we find Georgetown's Steve Neumann and Brandon Allen on the Best XI First Team. Lyon is joined on the Second Team by defenders Eric Miller from Creighton and Nick Hagglund from Xavier. There are two Big East men on the freshman Best XI, and you won't be surprised to find out that midfielder Ricardo Perez plays for Creighton and forward Alex Muyl wears Georgetown blue and gray.
Over on the women's side, it's slightly less exciting. Forward Maegan Kelly is the lone Golden Eagle to be recognized by TDS, as she was named to the Best XI Second Team. Kelly was named to the All Big East First Team in 2012, as well as the 2012 All Big East Tournament team. She also made it on to the watch list for the MAC Hermann Trophy, given each year to the most outstanding player in the country. Kelly was one of two Big East players recognized on the women's list, as Georgetown's Daphne Corboz was named to the Best XI First Team.