Persenico named Offensive Player of the Year; three other Pride men's soccer players earn All-Heart for 2024

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - On the day of the first round of the Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament, four members of the Clarke University men's soccer team received Heart honors led by the first individual season honor by a men's soccer player as senior forward Luke Persenico earned Heart Offensive Player of the Year, conference officials announced on Wednesday.

Persenico's Offensive Player of the Year also comes along with a First Team All-Heart honors for the second time in the St. Charles, Ill. native's career as he was joined on the All-Heart teams by senior Kenshin Yasujima and Hector Medrano on the Second Team along with Carles Aparisi being named to the Third Team.

This senior season has been somewhat storybook for Persenico who finished the regular season with a Clarke school record 19 goals, which is good for the Heart lead by four goals as he recorded at least a point in all but two of the Pride's 15 games so far this season including finding his name on the scoresheet multiple times in eight games this season. Persenico was the back-to-back Heart Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 7 and Oct. 14 in a four-game stretch that saw him score nine goals and record an assist that included a four-goal game on Oct. 5 against Baker in a 7-2 CU win as that would also propel Persenico to his second-career NAIA Offensive Player of the Week that was awarded on Oct. 8.

Persenico's goal-scoring dominance this year also places him in a tie for fourth in the NAIA while also sitting in the same tie for fourth in points at 44 as he's played two less games than the nation's leader in both categories. In the middle of his career year, Persenico has become the Clarke men's soccer leader for points in a career (107) and goals in a career (46) as he has cemented himself as the best offensive player in school history, if not the best men's soccer player in the 41-year history of the program at Clarke.

With today's announcement, Persenico adds a fourth All-Heart selection, earning Third Team as a freshman in 2021, Second Team last season as a junior in 2023, and the other First Team selection came in his sophomore year of 2022 as those All-Conference selections, his three total Player of the Week honors, then his Offensive Player of the Year selection makes eight different conference honors to his four-year career.

Clarke's second-leading goal scorer, Medrano has taken a significant step forward in his junior season from Honduras with a career-high eight goals on the season while adding a career-high tying two assists. Providing valuable balance to the CU attack as the team's primary striker at the top of the formation, Medrano got off to a strong start to the season with an assist in his first game, a goal in his second game, and two goals in his third game as he would go on to have two more two-goal games including scoring twice on the road against Benedictine on Oct. 18 which would lead to his first career Heart Offensive Player of the Week honor on Oct. 21 to give the Pride three-straight weekly honors following Persenico's two the weeks prior.

Joining the Pride for his senior season from Tennesse Southern, Yasujima has been a versitile asset for Clarke playing on the wing either offensively or defensively to finish third on the team with four goals while adding an assist for 13 points on the year. The Kanagawa, Japan native has had a particularly strong finish to the regular season, recording a goal in three of the final five games, including the final goal in the Oct. 26 3-1 win over Central Methodist to put the game on ice in the final moments.

Making a return to the Clarke defensive back line following a lost year due to injury, Aparisi also earned All-Heart Second Team in his first season at CU as he was able to produce a goal and four assists from his center back position while also stabilizing a unit that gave up an average of over 2.2 goals per game in 2023 to lower that number to under 2.0 in 2024.

Full Heart Release: https://heart.prestosports.com/sports/msoc/2024-25/releases/20241106jh4xgo

Clarke men's soccer will host their first ever home game in the Heart Tournament tonight when Benedictine College comes to Burrows Field for the Heart Quarterfinals with a 7:00 p.m. CT scheduled kickoff between the No. 3 seeded Pride and No. 6 seeded Ravens.