Voting is live for the Conference XI awards in the National Premier Soccer League, and the Laredo Heat SC has five players and a coach nominated in the Lone Star Conference.

The selections for the Conference XI awards are determined by a public vote. Voting is live at npsl.com/conference-xi-voting/lonestar and is available through Wednesday, July 20.

“The fans are so good. I rave about them all the time,” Heat head coach John Powell said. “We really need their support here to vote. There are some teams in the conference that vote in large numbers, and our boys are clearly deserving of these awards. We want to encourage them to please get on the polls and vote for the boys.”

Fresh off Saturday’s victory in the Lone Star Conference championship with a 3-0 win over San Antonio, the Heat are preparing to represent the conference in the regional semifinals as they travel Wednesday to face the Tulsa Athletic from the Heartland Conference. Powell also led Laredo to an outright conference title in the regular season, and he is nominated to be the conference’s head coach of the year.

In the second season under Powell, the Heat feature the No. 1 defense in the 95-team NPSL which has helped them earn a 10-1-3 record. Laredo’s lone loss even saw the teams tied early in added time on the road, and the club is unbeaten in the eight matches since. The Heat have been especially dominant at home this season going 7-0-1 at the TAMIU Soccer Complex while outscoring opponents 22-3.

The No. 1 defense in the nation is backed by Connor Durant who is nominated at goalkeeper. Durant has played every minute of the season in net for the Heat and has been instrumental in the team recording eight clean sheets in 14 matches and allowing more than one goal only once.

Laredo’s 0.57 goals against average with only eight total allowed is first in the NPSL by a wide margin as Med City FC and upcoming opponent Tulsa are tied for second with an 0.79 average. Following a scoreless draw through regulation and overtime in the playoff opener, Durant continued coming up big allowing the Irving FC Gallos to score just once in four attempts as the Heat won 3-1 on penalty kicks.

Durant is always the first to give credit to the defenders, midfielders and forwards in front of him for their defensive efforts, and a pair of defenders are also nominated for the Conference XI awards in Aberdeen, Scotland natives Lewis Wilson and Liam Morrison.

Laredo’s captain and center back, Wilson was one of two players to receive an automatic nomination for the awards since he was selected to the NPSL Team of the Month for May. Along with anchoring the back line, Wilson has contributed offensively with three goals and two assists. Morrison plays a crucial part in the success of the defense and is instrumental in the team breaking out with the left back routinely making runs through the midfield and helping set up the offense.

Roberto Ordonez is nominated for the Heat at midfielder. He is second on the team with five goals and leads the Heat with five assists. He has two goals in the past four matches including one in Saturday’s Lone Star Conference championship and the tying goal in a draw at Brownsville in the penultimate game of the regular season which proved to be the difference in securing the outright conference title.

Laredo’s leading scorer Kristian Colaci is nominated at forward. He leads the Heat with nine goals and has added a pair of assists. He recorded one of each in the conference championship as he opened the scoring in the 29th minute and assisted on Ordonez’s goal in the 78th minute.

Voting for the Conference XI awards is live through July 20, and the winners of the conference honors will be nominated for the Region XI awards.

Visit laredoheatsc.com and follow @laredoheatsc on social media to stay up to date on the latest news. Any youth players interested in joining the academy can visit laredoheatscyouth.com for more information.