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WCC IN THE 2016 NCAA TOURNAMENT
SAN BRUNO, Calif. -- West Coast Conference regular season champion Portland dominated the 2016 WCC major individual award winners as the All-WCC honors were announced by the conference office Tuesday.
Portland claimed three of the four individual player honors led by senior forward Eddie Sanchez earning WCC Player of the Year honors. Teammate Paul Christensen was named the WCC Goalkeeper of the Year, and Pilots forward Benji Michel became the second Portland player in four years to nab WCC Freshman of the Year honors. Loyola Marymount junior Connor Johnson was named the WCC Defender of the Year.
Pacific's Ryan Jorden and Portland's Nick Carlin-Voigt were named the WCC Co-Coaches of the Year. It is the first career WCC Coach of the Year honor for both.
All five individual awards - including the all-conference teams - were voted on solely by the WCC's eight head coaches.
Sanchez is Portland's first WCC Player of the Year since Alejandro Salazar picked up the honor in the 2003 season. The senior was the co-league leader in conference play in points (11) and assists (5) while also adding three goals. In all games played, Sanchez tallied six goals and seven assists for 19 points.
Johnson started 14 games for the Lions backline that finished second in the league with just seven goals allowed in conference play. Loyola Marymount registered two shutouts in conference play. The junior also contributed two goals for four points after scoring the game-winners against then-No. 17 UC Santa Barbara and conference opponent Santa Clara.
Christensen finished the conference season with a 0.57 goals against average after allowing just four goals in 628 minutes that spanned seven games. The junior led the WCC with four shutouts, doubling the number of shutouts by the nearest competitor, while collecting a total of 24 saves. His .857 save percentage ranked second in league-play.
Michel was the WCC-leader in goals with five in conference play while also finishing tied with teammate Sanchez for first in points with 11. The forward also led the league with two game-winning goals to put together one of the strongest freshman seasons in recent conference history. Michel, who was also selected as an All-WCC First Team honor, started all 18 games of the season for the Pilots and also led the WCC in all games played with 10 goals and four assists for 24 points.
Jorden and Carlin-Voigt were named Co-Coaches of the Year after leading both of their respective programs to the NCAA Tournament. Jorden completed one of the biggest turnarounds in the country in earning an NCAA at-large bid after winning just one game last season with a 1-15-1 record. In the program's third season since reinstatement in 2014, the Tigers have been receiving votes most of the season and are riding a six-match unbeaten streak. Carlin-Voigt led the Pilots to the WCC regular season championship in his first season at Portland. The Pilots, which had only won one WCC game combined during the previous two seasons before Carlin-Voigt's arrival, rattled off five consecutive conference victories before clinching the automatic bid on the final day of the season.
Player of the Year: Eddie Sanchez, Portland
Defensive Player of the Year: Connor Johnson, Loyola Marymount
Goalkeeper of the Year: Paul Christensen, Portland
Freshman of the Year: Benji Michel, Portland
Co-Coach of the Year: Ryan Jorden, Pacific & Nick Carlin-Voigt, Portland
2016 All-WCC Men's Soccer First Team
| Name | Yr. | Pos. | School |
| Tristan Blackmon | Jr. | D | Pacific |
| Julio Cervantes | Sr. | F | Pacific |
| Jalen Crisler | Jr. | D | Gonzaga |
| Jakob Granlund | Sr. | F | Gonzaga |
| Connor Johnson | Jr. | D | Loyola Marymount |
| Benji Michel | Fr. | F | Portland |
| Kris Reaves | Jr. | D | Portland |
| Eddie Sanchez | Sr. | F | Portland |
| Rafael Sanchez | Sr. | D/M | Saint Mary's |
| Leon Schwarzer | Jr. | M | San Francisco |
| Michael Turner | Sr. | M | San Diego |
2016 All-WCC Men's Soccer Second Team
| Name | Yr. | Pos. | School |
| Valdemar Andersen | Jr. | D | Santa Clara |
| Ben Braman | Jr. | D | Saint Mary's |
| Brennan Castro | Sr. | D | Santa Clara |
| Paul Christensen | Jr. | GK | Portland |
| David Garrett | Sr. | F | San Francisco |
| Curtis Goldsmith | Jr. | GK | Pacific |
| Aaron Lombardi | Jr. | M | San Francisco |
| Adrien Perez | Sr. | F | Loyola Marymount |
| Josh Smith | Sr. | D | San Frnacisco |
| Jakub Svehlik | Fr. | M | Saint Mary's |
| Wouter Verstraaten | Soph. | D | Pacific |
2016 WCC Men's Soccer Honorable Mention
Merlin Baus, San Diego; Miguel Berry, San Diego; Matt Coffey, Portland; Carlos Delgadillo, Santa Clara; Santiago Digiuseppe, San Francisco; Andrew Konstantino, Saint Mary's; Alvaro Madrigal, Loyola Marymount; Patrick McGrath, San Diego; Christo Michaelson, Gonzaga; Lionel Mills, Portland; Jose Ochoa, Loyola Marymount; Camden Riley, Pacific; Ander Saez, Pacific; Ben White, Gonzaga
2016 All-WCC Men's Soccer Freshman Team
| Name | Pos. | School |
| Garrett Amador | D | Loyola Marymount |
| Jalani Ambrose | D | Santa Clara |
| Davis Behnke | D | Gonzaga |
| Miguel Berry | F | San Diego |
| Andreas Charalambous | M | Pacific |
| Gio Magana-Rivera | M | Portland |
| Benji Michel | F | Portland |
| Anthony Orendain | F | Pacific |
| Matt Orr | D | San Francisco |
| Jake Rudel | D | Saint Mary's |
| Jakub Svehlik | M | Saint Mary's |