Tuesday, November 14, 2023
by Thomas Lal

PORTLAND, Ore. – After a dominant regular season that saw him record at least one point in 10 of 11 matches against conference competition and lead Simon Fraser to its eighth conference title, Devin O’Hea now leads the 2023 GNAC Men’s Soccer All-Confernece Team as the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Player of the Year.

The senior forward from North Vancouver, B.C., has been the model of consistency this year, starting every match and logging over 1,400 minutes as part of the top-ranked offense in the GNAC. O’Hea has tallied nine multi-point performances this season, including a run of seven matches in a row where he scored a goal.

Heading into the NCAA Super Region 4 Championships, O’Hea has nine goals and nine assists. His assist total leads the GNAC and ranks 14th in Division II. He also ranks 30th in the division with 1.59 points per game while leading an SFU offense that ranks 28th in Division II with 112 total points.

O’Hea’s selection as Player of the Year makes him the second straight SFU player to receive the honor after Mark Talisuna earned the award in 2022. He is the ninth player from Simon Fraser to earn the honor overall.

O’Hea is among three of the GNAC Champion Red Leafs named to the first team along with senior defender and unanimous Defensive Player of the Year Niko Papakyriakopoulos and Freshman of the Year Michael Hennessy. The first-team selection is the first of Papakyriakopoulos’ career and comes after a regular season where the New Westminster, B.C., native led SFU to a conference-best 0.88 goals against average and just 15 goals allowed. He also contributed offensively and is second only to O’Hea with eight assists on the year.

In a freshman field that was jam-packed with talent, Hennessy rose above the rest with a debut campaign worthy of a championship. Making an immediate impression from the outset, Hennessy has started every match of the season for the Red Leafs. He ranks second in the GNAC and 23rd in Division II with 29 points on the year. He is also tied for second in the conference and 14th in the division with 13 goals, five of which he scored in a record-setting performance against Saint Martin’s on Oct. 19.

Western Oregon head coach Michael Behonick was voted as the Coach of the Year by his peers after guiding the Wolves to second in the conference standings in the program’s second year of existence and his first behind the bench. Behonick’s Wolves pushed conference champion Simon Fraser all the way to the last day of the season to finish with an 11-3-3 record (8-1-3 GNAC), just 0.02 points per game behind an inaugural title, a marked improvement from the team’s 2-13-2 (1-10-1 GNAC) campaign in 2022.

Western Oregon is represented by a pair of unanimous selections on the first team in junior forward Gabriel Silva and freshman midfielder Yahir Ocampo. Silva was a driving force in the WOU offense, leading the team and ranking fifth in the GNAC with 21 points on nine goals and three assists. Ocampo, meanwhile, was a great facilitator in his debut season, leading the Wolves and ranking third in the conference with six assists while his 12 points were tied for 10th.

Seattle Pacific’s trio of first team selections are led by Newcomer of the Year Raymundo Mendez. After transferring from Columbia Basin College ahead of the season, Mendez immediately set the tone for the Falcons with goals in three of their first four games. On the season, the junior midfielder finished third in the GNAC with 28 points on 13 goals and two assists.

Seattle Pacific sophomore midfielder Cameron Yriondo earned first team selection after a season where he tied for seventh in the conference with four assists. Yriondo also added one goal on the season to finish with six points. Senior defender Evan Aune who started 13 of SPU’s 18 matches and logged over 1,100 minutes on the back line. Aune also added one assist for good measure.

Northwest Nazarene also landed a pair of selections on the first team with junior forward Jonathan Cardona being a unanimous selection and senior goalkeeper Sawyer Price making the first team for the first time after being an honorable mention for the last three seasons. Cardona started 17 of 18 matches for NNU and tied for third on the team with six points on one goal and four assists.

Price was the go-to netminder for the Nighthawks, starting every match and playing all but 31 minutes of the season to rank 25th in Division II with 1,589 minutes played. He finished the season with a 5-7-5 record to go with a .752 save percentage, a 1.42 goals against average and four shutouts.

Rounding out the first team selections are Western Washington teammates Albin Jonsson and Sebastiano Silvetti. Jonsson led the Vikings in scoring for a second consecutive season and tied for 10th in the conference with 12 points courtesy of five goals and two assists. Silvetti emerged as a key defender for WWU in his freshman season, appearing in 17 matches and starting 15 to finish his first tour of the GNAC with nearly 1,300 minutes under his belt. He also got involved on the offensive side of the ball, scoring a goal and adding an assist.

Simon Fraser and Western Washington lead all GNAC programs with five honorees between the first and second teams each, followed by Northwest Nazarene, Seattle Pacific with four apiece.