Nov. 14, 2017
SAN BRUNO, Calif. – Student-athletes from four different institutions were honored with the 2017 West Coast Conference major individual awards as the All-WCC honors were announced by the conference office Tuesday.
Regular season champion San Francisco saw senior midfielder Leon Schwarzer earn WCC Player of the Year honors while head coach Eddie Soto was picked as the WCC Coach of the Year. Pacific’s Tristan Blackmon was named the WCC Defensive Player of the Year, Portland’s Paul Christensen repeated as the WCC Goalkeeper of the Year and San Diego’s Aaron Frey was picked as the WCC Freshman of the Year.
All five individual awards - including the all-conference teams - were voted on solely by the WCC's eight head coaches.
Schwarzer is San Francisco’s first WCC Player of the Year since Conor Chinn picked up the honor in the 2008 season. The senior was an anchor in the midfield for the regular season champions, leading the Dons to a six-match winning streak that culminated in an NCAA Tournament berth. Schwarzer finished the season with two goals and two assists for six points in conference play. Both of his WCC goals were game-winners as the senior tallied the winning strikes against title rivals Portland and Pacific to secure the WCC championship.
Blackmon becomes the first Pacific Tiger to earn Defensive Player of the Year honors after starting 16 games and six WCC contests for the Tigers backline that produced two shutouts in conference play, one shy of the conference-high. The senior also registered two goals and two assists on the year for six points, including an assist on the game-clinching goal against San Diego in conference play. Blackmon was the sole returning NSCAA All-American in the conference and for the second-consecutive season led the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament.
Christensen is the first WCC student-athlete to claim back-to-back WCC Goalkeeper of the Year honors after finishing the conference season with a league-leading 1.11 goals against average. The senior also led the WCC with three shutouts while collecting a total of 22 saves. His .733 save percentage ranked second in league-play.
Frey was one of five Toreros to start all seven conference games and the only freshman to do so. The defender from Germany helped lead the Toreros to the third-best goals against average in the WCC at 1.20 with just nine goals allowed in seven matches. The nine goals allowed were just one shy of league-leading Portland. He also contributed the equalizing goal in San Diego’s 2-2 draw against Saint Mary’s.
Soto was named the WCC Coaches of the Year after leading the Dons to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2008 season. In just his third season on the Hilltop, Soto’s squad rattled off six consecutive conference victories to clinch the automatic bid and WCC regular season championship on the final day of the season.
Player of the Year: Leon Schwarzer, San Francisco
Defensive Player of the Year: Tristan Blackmon, Pacific
Goalkeeper of the Year: Paul Christensen, Portland
Freshman of the Year: Aaron Frey, San Diego
Coach of the Year: Eddie Soto, San Francisco
2017 WEST COAST CONFERENCE MEN’S SOCCER FIRST TEAM
|
Name
|
Institution
|
Yr.
|
Pos.
|
|
Miguel Berry
|
San Diego
|
Soph.
|
F
|
|
Tristan Blackmon
|
Pacific
|
Sr.
|
D
|
|
Sean Bowman
|
San Francisco
|
Jr.
|
F
|
|
Paul Christensen
|
Portland
|
Sr.
|
GK
|
|
Carlos Delgadillo
|
Santa Clara
|
Sr.
|
F
|
|
Benji Michel
|
Portland
|
Jr.
|
F
|
|
Rey Ortiz
|
Portland
|
Jr.
|
M
|
|
Camden Riley
|
Pacific
|
Jr.
|
M
|
|
Jake Rudel
|
Saint Mary’s
|
Soph.
|
F
|
|
Leon Schwarzer
|
San Francisco
|
Sr.
|
M
|
|
Wouter Verstraaten
|
Pacific
|
Jr.
|
D
|
2017 WEST COAST CONFERENCE MEN’S SOCCER SECOND TEAM
|
Name
|
Institution
|
Yr.
|
Pos.
|
|
Valdemar Andersen
|
Santa Clara
|
Sr.
|
D
|
|
John Bovill
|
Loyola Marymount
|
R-Jr.
|
D
|
|
Santiago Digiuseppe
|
San Francisco
|
Jr.
|
M
|
|
Stephen Dougherty
|
Saint Mary’s
|
Jr.
|
M
|
|
Henry Lander
|
San Diego
|
Soph.
|
D
|
|
Aaron Lombardi
|
San Francisco
|
Sr.
|
M
|
|
Alvaro Madrigal
|
Loyola Marymount
|
Sr.
|
F
|
|
Christo Michaelson
|
Gonzaga
|
Sr.
|
M
|
|
Thomas Olsen
|
San Diego
|
Sr.
|
GK
|
|
Kris Reaves
|
Portland
|
Sr.
|
D
|
|
Ben White
|
Gonzaga
|
Sr.
|
D
|
2017 WCC MEN’S SOCCER HONORABLE MENTION
Djordie Babic, San Diego; Tariq Branche, Pacific; Satoshi Chaffin, Santa Clara; Tobias Clauss, Saint Mary’s; Matt Coffey, Portland; Erik Edwardson, Portland; Aaron Frey, San Diego; Bob Groenendijk, Pacific; Bryce Kaminski, San Francisco; Andres Ochoa, Pacific; Manny Padilla, San Francisco; Freddy Polzer, San Diego; Ben Willis, Gonzaga
2017 WEST COAST CONFERENCE MEN’S SOCCER ALL FRESHMAN TEAM
|
Name
|
Institution
|
Yr.
|
Pos.
|
|
Charles Brewah
|
Pacific
|
Fr.
|
D
|
|
Joe Corner
|
Gonzaga
|
Fr.
|
M
|
|
Javier Ruiz Duran
|
Santa Clara
|
Fr.
|
M
|
|
Kris Fourcand
|
Loyola Marymount
|
Fr.
|
F
|
|
Aaron Frey
|
San Diego
|
Fr.
|
D
|
|
Spencer Myers
|
Portland
|
Fr.
|
D
|
|
Nate Shue
|
Santa Clara
|
Fr.
|
F
|
|
Terrell Smith
|
Santa Clara
|
Fr.
|
D
|
|
Ruben Stuiver
|
San Francisco
|
Fr.
|
GK
|
|
Bar Twito
|
San Francisco
|
Fr.
|
D
|
|
Filippo Zattarin
|
Saint Mary’s
|
Fr.
|
D
|