Hoskins Named Rochester Thunder Player of the Year

BILLINGS, Mont . – Former Montana State Billings men’s soccer standout, Justin Hoskins, was named Player of the Year for the Rochester Thunder of the Premier Development League.

“I felt honored to be named Player of the Year as voted on by the team,” Hoskins said.  “I felt very blessed to get that respect from my teammates.  I had a great experience in Minnesota with a team of very talented players”

Hoskins, led the league in minutes played as he played all 90 minutes in all 16 games for the Thunder this season.  He tallied 1440 minutes with one assist.  Hoskins helped lead the Thunder to a 5-9-2 record.

“I am very proud of Justin’s continued success,” MSUB head coach Dan McNally said.  “He was an outstanding player for MSUB and it is no surprise that he is finding success now that he has graduated.”

A native of Billings, Hoskins transferred to MSUB after his freshman year at Westminster College (Utah) where he scored three goals and five assists as he started all 19 games.  As a sophomore, Hoskins played and started 15 games in his first season at MSUB and was named to the Heartland Conference President’s Honor Roll.

In 2007, he played and started all 18 games, scoring his first goal as a Yellowjacket against Colorado Christian (Sept. 29).  He was a Great Northwest Athletic Conference first team all-conference selection and earned GNAC Academic All-Conference honors.  He helped lead the Yellowjackets to its best record in school history with a 13-4-1 record.

As a senior, Hoskins was a team captain and was second on the team in minutes played (1615).  He tallied a personal season-best four goals as he was one of just two players to play and start all 18 games.  He was a first team all-conference selection at defense.  His four goals were good for third-best on the team as he helped lead the Yellowjackets to back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in school history.

He helped lead the Yellowjacket defense to the fewest goals in back-to-back seasons in school history as MSUB gave up just 37 goals in the past two years.

Hoskins is enrolled at MSUB in graduate school in accounting and plans on going to law school in the future.