NORFOLK, Va. – VCU men's soccer earned a pair of All-State selections from the Virginia Sports Information Directors Wednesday afternoon, as the organization named sophomore midfielder Celio Pompeu to its First Team and senior defender Zeron Sewell to its Second Team.
 
The 2021 Atlantic 10 Midfielder of the Year, Pompeu led the Rams with 15 points and seven assists, while tying for the team lead with four goals. His seven helpers are tied for the third most in the A-10, while his 15 points are 10th-best in the conference. In a 4-1 win over Duquesne on Oct. 6, Pompeu registered an assist on every VCU goal; four assists is the most for a VCU player in a single game since at least 2008.
 
A speedy and crafty winger, Pompeu was named the A-10 Offensive Player of the Week and earned a spot on the TopDrawerSoccer Team of the Week after a brace in a 4-1 win over ETSU on Sept. 14. The Brazilian was also ranked at 15 on TopDrawerSoccer's midseason Top 100, and named to the United Soccer Coaches All-Southeast Region Second Team.
 
A First Team All-Atlantic 10 selection, Sewell had a career year captaining the VCU back line, starting 16 matches at center back. The Jamaican garnered a number of awards after leading the Rams to a 2-0 win at No. 7/No. 6 Wake Forest and a 1-1 draw at No. 4 North Carolina in the season's opening weekend, including A-10 Defensive Player of the Week, TopDrawerSoccer's national Player of the Week, and a spot on College Soccer News' Team of the Week.
 
A pair of shutout wins in late September earned Sewell an A-10 Co-Defensive Player of the Week nod, and more recognition on TopDrawerSoccer's Team of the Week. In addition to guiding VCU to six clean sheets and a 1.15 team goals-against average this season, Sewell also compiled the first multi-goal season of his career, converting the game-winning penalty kick in a 2-0 victory at Old Dominion on Sept. 21, and opening the scoring in the win over Duquesne with a powerful header.
 
The Morant Bay, Jamaica, native was named to the USC All-Southeast Region Third Team as well.
 
VCU finished 2021 with a 9-7-2 record, including three wins over ranked teams during one of the nation's most challenging schedules. The Rams received votes in the United Soccer Coaches poll for 11 straight weeks, and reached as high as No. 12 in the poll earlier in the season.