LANGLEY, B.C. - Canada West announced the 2007 men's soccer awards and all-stars, as selected by head coaches conference-wide.
Calgary Dinos fullback Matt Deeprose was the Dinos' lone all-star, landing on the first team.
Trinity Western Spartans captain Nicola Perugini is the Canada West Player of the Year. A fifth-year midfielder from Montreal, Perugini was a leader and a motivator with a fantastic ability to distribute the ball and a fearless attitude to defend and stop the other team. Well-decorated in his CIS career, he has been a Canada West all-star all five years of competition, a CIS all-Canadian twice and made the all-tournament team at Nationals in 2005. He holds numerous school soccer records, has played over 100 matches and last year he won the conference Student-Athlete Award. In his inaugural season, 2003, he was Canada West Rookie of the Year.
“We are all extremely excited for Nic! He has capped off another MVP season with us in what has been a MVP career,” said TWU head coach Al Alderson. “Nic has been an incredible force for us both on and off the field and has played a huge part in the many successes our program has experienced over the past five years. An unbelievable warrior for us on game day and on the training field, Nic has always tried to lead his teammates to the pursuit of their potential. He has been a driving force behind our best Canada West season yet.”
UBC midfielder Jorge Angel-Mira is the league's top freshman for 2007. A recruit out of New Westminster, B.C., Mira played all 14 conference games, scoring a team-high five goals as the Thunderbirds went 6-5-3 in the nation's toughest division, good for second place and a spot in the Canada West semifinal.
“I am happy to see Jorge get recognized. It was a pretty good group of rookies this year across the conference – one of the stronger groups in some time – so it's a nice honour,” said UBC head coach Mike Mosher. “He's got something in his technical ability that is very difficult to teach a player at this stage. Jorge can go past players in a one-on-one situation and he's always an attacking threat. I think what I'm most excited about is that I look at his game and I see a lot of areas where he can improve, and he shows a willingness to improve.”
Bryce Chapman of the Saskatchewan Huskies has been chosen Coach of the Year. In his fourth year Chapman helped the Huskies to a 4-5-5 mark, placing fifth, up one spot from a year ago, though narrowly missing the Canada West playoffs with 17 points. The last two seasons represent the best results in 20 years for the U of S men's soccer team. Formerly an assistant coach for the Huskies women's side, Champan helped coach the Huskies men's soccer team to a Canada West bronze medal in 2003 with former head coach Jovo Radovic
“It's nice to see Bryce rewarded for his passion and commitment to helping the sport of soccer grow within Huskie Athletics,” said University of Saskatchewan Athletic Director Bill Seymour.
Following is a complete list of all Canada West men's soccer awards and all-stars:
Awards
Player of the Year: Nicola Perugini, Trinity Western
Rookie of the Year: Jorge Angel-Mira, UBC
Coach of the Year: Bryce Chapman, Saskatchewan
Fair Play Award: Lethbridge
ALL-STARS
First Team
Goalkeeper
Andrew Fink, TWU
Fullbacks
Paul Hamilton, TWU
Graham Smith, UBC
Matt Deeprose, Calgary
Quenton Zalazar, Alberta
Halfbacks
Nicola Perugini, TWU
Junior Castrillon, Alberta
Michael Elliott, UBC
Mike Riehl, Fraser Valley
Strikers
Spencer Schmidt, Fraser Valley
Cole McFarlane, Victoria
Second Team
Goalkeeper
Dan Kilpatrick, Victoria
Fullbacks
Paul Bahia, UBC
Erik Kuhn, Alberta
Mike O'Brien, Lethbridge
Bruno Napoleao, TWU
Halfbacks
Sam Wihgham, Victoria
Jerson Hamilton, Saskatchewan
Jorge Angel-Mira, UBC
Nico Marcina, UBC
Strikers
Nathan Pogue, TWU
Adrian Kekec, TWU
Major award winners now become finalists for Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) national awards, to be handed out at the end of the season.
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