FHSU Athletics
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Fort Hays State Men's Soccer landed 11 players on the All-GAC/MIAA Team for the 2025 season. After an unbeaten regular season with a 15-0-3 overall record and 11-0-1 mark in conference play, the Tigers nearly swept all of the special honors voted on by coaches. Elias Ovelar Semeniuk is the Offensive Player of the Year, Tadhg Walsh is the Midfielder of the Year, Payton Roehrich is the Newcomer of the Year, and Alex Nichols is the Coach of the Year.
The 11 selections are the most the Tigers have ever had on an All-GAC/MIAA Team in a season since the conferences merged together for men's soccer in 2019. The previous high was 10.
For the all-conference team, the Tigers had four first-team selections, three second-team selections, and four honorable mention selections. Earning first-team honors were Ovelar Semeniuk as a forward, Walsh as a midfielder, Roehrich as a goalkeeper, and Dimitry Tchantcheu as a defender. Both Ovelar Semeniuk and Walsh were unanimous selections at their positions and for the specialty honors they received. Second-team selections went to Bastian Carlman and Juan Linares as forwards, and Mamadou Oumar Ndiaye as a defender. Honorable mention picks went to Joseph Street and Harrison Bensouda as midfielders, and Jackson Elgas and Oliver Wright as defenders
Ovelar Semeniuk has consistently been one of the top players in the GAC for three-consecutive years. He is now a three-time All-GAC/MIAA selection after a first-team pick last year and a second-team pick in 2023. For the regular season this year, he led the GAC in goals, points, and game winning goals (5). He scored 11 times and added three assists to accumulate 25 points so far through 18 matches. Ovelar Semeniuk had one hat trick and a total of three multi-goal matches during the season. Going into the 2025 postseason, he has 27 goals and eight assists in his career at FHSU.
Walsh is now a four-time All-GAC/MIAA selection to go with his Midfielder of the Year honor, a testament to his strong, consistent play for the Tigers since 2022. Walsh has 13 points so far this season with four goals and five assists. He has produced at least four goals in three-straight seasons with 13 career goals, and he has generated at least three assists every year on the pitch, now with 26 in his career. His 15 assists last year going into the postseason led the nation.
Roehrich has made a huge impact in his first season on the pitch for the Tigers. The freshman not only leads the GAC in goals against average (.440) and save percentage (.851), but ranks third and eighth nationally in each of those categories respectively entering the postseason. He also ranks fifth nationally in individual shutouts with eight, while starting five contests in which he had combined shutouts with teammates.
Tchantcheu received his first All-GAC/MIAA honor in a big way with first-team honors at defender. He anchored a strong back line for the Tigers in the regular season, helping produce 13 shutouts. The team enters the postseason ranked second nationally in shutout percentage (.722). He produced one goal and one assist in the regular season. Last year, he was the GAC/MIAA Tournament MVP.
Carlman is now a two-time All-GAC/MIAA selection after earning an honorable mention pick in his first year at FHSU. He ranks second in the conference in points per match entering the postseason, averaging 1.20 in 15 games of action with six goals and six assists. Carlman now has 14 goals and eight assists in his two years at FHSU.
Linares has also made a big splash in his first year at Fort Hays State, ranking third in the conference in goals with eight and second in game-winning goals with four. Adding five assists to his goal production, he ranks second in the conference in total points with 21. He generated points in 11 of his 18 matches this season, helping land a pick on the all-conference squad.
Oumar Ndiaye earned an all-conference nod as a defender in his second year with the team. He has been an active producer of points, often moving into more of an offensive threat in certain situations throughout the year. He enters the postseason with three goals and three assists, playing over 1,000 minutes for the season.
Street has made a huge impact for the Tigers in a specialty area not a lot of players possess. The senior transfer has generated the majority of his conference-leading 10 assists for the season off of throw-ins, often putting the ball in the box from long distances which have been put into the net by his teammates. He also has one goal in 2025 and has 12 points generated going into the postseason.
Bensouda earned an honorable mention selection as a midfielder this year after being named to the GAC/MIAA All-Tournament Team last year. Battling injury issues at points in 2025, he still earned a selection with two assists in just over 800 minutes of action. He enters the postseason with two goals and three assists in his four-year career at FHSU.
Another strong performer over time for the Tigers, Elgas now has three All-GAC/MIAA honors in his career as a defender. He has two goals and one assist this year and has been a consistent force in FHSU's strong backline that allowed only eight goals in the regular season. He has four goals and eight assists over his four-year career at FHSU.
Rounding out the all-conference selections was Oliver Wright. Thrust into a more prominent role on the Tiger back line due to injuries, Wright thrived in his opportunity for more minutes on the pitch by scoring five goals, mainly on headers thrown into the box by the aforementioned Street. He was also a big contributor in the majority of the team's 13 shutouts in the regular season.
In just his second year as head coach, Nichols has the Tigers fully in the national spotlight after an unbeaten 15-0-3 regular season. The team's No. 4 national ranking over the last three weeks matches their highest ever in any regular-season poll, just one shy of the team's preseason ranking in 2019. Nichols has a record of 28-4-7 over 39 matches at FHSU. This was his first GAC/MIAA Coach of the Year honor after being a five-time recipient of the same honor when coaching at Central Methodist in the Heart of America Conference at the NAIA level.