DURANGO, Colo. — Fabian Kling was named as the Most Valuable Player Award for men's soccer at the 2011 Skyhawk Awards Banquet, held April 7 at the Student Union Ballroom.

“Fabian has become a huge part of our program since his arrival from Germany in 2008,” said Oige Kennedy, who completed his second year as head coach of the Skyhawk men's soccer team last fall. “From day one, he showed a lot of things that you look for in a captain and a leader and of course in an MVP. He is very mature, has superb soccer intelligence and has always been one of our most consistent performers on and off the field. He has always worked extremely hard on his game and, more often than not, will come out on his days off to work individual on getting better, which sets a great example for the younger players on our team.

“So far he has won two RMAC championships, two RMAC tournaments, a national championship and has only ever lost eight games out of the 68 he has played in, and only ever suffered one loss on Dirks Field,” Kennedy added. “I think he has another big year ahead of him in 2011 and we will look to him to help lead our young group hopefully back to RMAC success.”

The MVP award is just the latest honor bestowed upon Kling, a 6-foot-3 junior defender from Holblein High School in Augsburg, Germany, who led the Skyhawks in goal scoring (eight) and ranked second in total points (16) in 2010. In 2010, he was named to the NSCAA/Performance Subaru and Daktronics All-America third teams, the NSCAA/Performance Subaru and Daktronics All-Central Region first teams, the All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference second team and the RMAC All-Tournament Team.

As a sophomore in 2009, he was named to the NSCAA All-Central Region first team, the Daktronics All-Central Region second team, and the All-NCAA Division II Final Four Team while guiding the Skyhawks to their second NCAA Division II championship in five seasons.

Kling earned first team All-RMAC honors as a true freshman in 2008. He was also a preseason All-RMAC choice in 2009 and 2010.

The Skyhawks finished the 2010 season with records of 11-5-4 overall and 10-2-2 in the RMAC. Fort Lewis finished runner-up to Colorado Mines in both the regular season and league tournament. The team lost six seniors — Abdel Becerra, Byron Cephers, Jamie Cunningham, Cory Dean, Keane Hamilton and Kyle Wood — to graduation.