Tuesday, November 8, 2016

PORTLAND, Ore. – With a dominant regular season performance from Simon Fraser, junior Adam Jones earns GNAC Player of the Year to lead five Simon Fraser players selected to the 2016 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Men’s Soccer All-Conference Team.

Jones paced the league in both points and assists in the regular season, tallying 10 goals and nine assists, including a hat trick in the regular-season finale. As a midfielder, Jones also played a crucial role in helping Simon Fraser garner a 279-122 shooting advantage over the course of the season.

Simon Fraser earned three other special awards. Junior Magnus Kristensen was named GNAC Defensive Player of the Year, anchoring a defense that has allowed only three shots on goal per match. Kristensen played all 1,570 minutes in the regular season and scored three goals, including two headers on set pieces in crucial victories over Northwest Nazarene and Montana State Billings.

For the fifth time in six years, the Freshman of the Year award went to the Clan with forward Riley Pang taking the honor. Pang scored four goals on the season, including two against Concordia. Pang was also received honorable mention recognition for his part in Simon Fraser’s 14-1-2 season.

For the fourth time in conference history, the Coach of the Year honor went to two coaches. Simon Fraser’s Clint Schneider led the Clan back to the top of the conference after finishing in second place last year. The Clan was unbeaten through its first 15 matches of the season and was ranked as high as No. 2 in the NSCAA Coaches Poll for Division II. Simon Fraser is now the No. 1 seed in the 2016 NCAA West Regional tournament.

Western Washington head coach Greg Brisbon helped the Vikings outperform expectations in 2016, including a late-season surge. The Vikings were picked sixth in the GNAC preseason coaches poll, but they showed their potential early in the season with a win over nationally-ranked Fort Hays State.

With just three weeks left in the season, however, the Vikings were in fifth place in the conference standings with the toughest part of its schedule left to play. The Vikings tied No. 3 Simon Fraser 1-1, starting an impressive run of five consecutive wins that included wins over each of the top three teams in the conference. The run catapulted Western Washington into a second-place tie in the conference standings and a spot in the NCAA West Regional tournament as the No. 6 seed.

Montana State Billings recruited the conference’s leading goal-scorer for the second year in a row as Julien Dragomir earned Newcomer of the Year with a conference-best 12 goals. Last year, Ricardo Palomino earned the award with a 16-goal year in his first season with the Yellowjackets and received Honorable Mention All-GNAC this year.

Along with Jones and Kristensen, the Clan was represented by three other players on the first team. The GNAC’s all-time shutouts leader, Brandon Watson, finished the regular season with an 0.63 goals against average, giving him the second-best career goals against average in conference matches in GNAC history at 0.72.

Sophomore forward Mamadi Camara received the second most votes behind Jones after scoring nine goals and recording six assists for the Clan. Senior midfielder Ryan Dhillon was third in the voting after tallying nine goals and six assists.

Western Washington junior midfielder Luke Olney was a First Team All-GNAC selection. Olney put the final stamp on the Vikings’ case for a spot in the postseason with a goal in the 88th minute against Concordia in the regular-season finale. More importantly, Olney was a key force in WWU controlling possession of the ball in many of their matches. The Vikings led the conference in shots taken with 17.12 per match.

Montana State Billings had two representatives on the first team. Dragomir and Flavio Colansanti were both unanimous choices. Colasanti had one goal and seven assists, playing a key role as a midfielder in what was the West Region’s most productive offense for most of the season.

Northwest Nazarene defender Linus Mannson was the only freshman that received first-team recognition. His defensive pressure was a big reason that opposing teams converted less than a tenth of their shots into goals. He was the only Crusader to play in all 18 matches and only sat out less than 100 minutes all season.

Concordia’s senior forward Matt Paine was one of three players to earn a spot on the First Team All-GNAC for the second year in a row. Paine missed the first two matches of the season and then scored eight goals in as many matches.

In total, nine players received recognition from Simon Fraser along with eight from both Montana State Billings and Northwest Nazarene. Western Washington had six players recognized, including unanimous second-team selections Anthony Dean and Tyler Visten.

2016 GNAC MEN'S SOCCER ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
Player of the Year: Adam Jones, Simon Fraser
Coach of the Year: Clint Schneider, Simon Fraser & Greg Brisbon, Western Washington
Defensive Player of the Year: Magnus Kristensen, Simon Fraser
Freshman of the Year: Riley Pang, Simon Fraser
Newcomer of the Year: Julien Dragomir, Montana State Billings

* - Unanimous Selection   
+ - First Team Selection In 2015 
# - Second Team Selection In 2015   
@ - Honorable Mention in 2015
$ - First Team Selection in 2014
! - Second Team Selection in 2014
& - Honorable Mention in 2014
& - First Team Selection in 2013