Northern Virginia Royal Joel Helmick of the Longwood University men’s soccer team was named the 2008 Atlantic Soccer Conference All-Tournament Most Valuable Player. Helmick, a Springfield Virginia native (W.T. Woodson), earned the accolade as voted on by the ASC league coaches.

 

A product of the Northern Virginia FC Super Y-League development program, Helmick served primary goalkeeping duties on the Royals PDL side in 2008. Helmick has previously played on the Royals U17, U18, and Super 20 teams.

 

Helmick receives the honor after being named the ASC Rookie of the Year by the conference coaches on November 14. The 6-3 freshman played in both of Longwood’s tournament games, only allowing one goal and making six saves for a 0.45 goals against average.
   
The path to the championship game was not an easy one for Longwood who played to a 1-1 draw against Houston Baptist in the semi-finals. Helmick came up huge for the Lancers in the overtime period, helping send the game to penalty kicks. During the penalty kick stage Helmick came up with two saves to help put his team in the championship game. Helmick played the game of his career in the ASC Championship game, helping the Lancers win their first conference title with a 1-0 victory over the #1 seeded Adelphi Panthers.