SAN BRUNO, Calif. – West Coast Conference regular season champion Saint Mary’s and runner-up Pacific led the way with eight of the 11 2018 All-WCC First Team selections as the 2018 WCC major individual awards and All-WCC honors were announced by the conference office Tuesday.
Saint Mary’s took home three of five awards in Goalkeeper of the Year Remi Prieur, Freshman of the Year Sebastian Schacht and Coach of the Year Adam Cooper while Pacific took the honors for Player of the Year in Camden Riley and Defensive Player of the Year in Wouter Verstraaten.
All five individual awards - including the all-conference teams - were voted on solely by the WCC's eight head coaches.
Riley is the first Pacific Tiger to be named the WCC Player of the Year after a remarkable campaign in which he set the Pacific single-season points record while also leading the conference in points in conference-play. Riley finished the 2018 regular season with 23 points, the most since the Pacific soccer program was revived in 2014, while also tying program marks for goals in a season (9) and game-winning goals (4). Against WCC opposition, Riley led the conference with his five goals and four assists for 14 points. The senior scored a goal in five of seven conference games and finished the season with a streak of six-consecutive WCC games with at least one point. His two game-winning goals in conference play were also tied for second in the WCC.
Verstraaten is the second-consecutive Tiger to be named Defensive Player of the Year after Triston Blackmon earned the award last season before becoming the No. 3 pick in the MLS SuperDraft. Verstraaten started all 16 games that he played – including all seven WCC contests – for the Tigers backline that was one of the top in the conference in limiting opponent chances with just 28 shots on goal allowed in seven conference games. The senior also added a goal on the year, scoring the game-tying goal at Western Michigan to preserve the draw.
Prieur is just the second Gael to be named the WCC Goalkeeper of the Year after a season in which he finished second in the NCAA in save percentage (.869), second in shutouts (12) and third in the country in goals against average (0.433) after allowing just eight goals through 18 games and 1561 minutes played. The redshirt junior also led the league in conference play with a 0.55 goals against average, .826 save percentage and four shutouts in seven games played against WCC competition.
Schacht picks up WCC Freshman of the Year honors after finishing the season as one of the top midfielders in the conference. The New Zealand native started all 18 games for the unbeaten Gaels and played the full 90 minutes or more in 13 of Saint Mary’s 18 games this season, including in four of seven conference contests. He finished the season with one goal and three assists for five points with the center mid netting the game-winner in a 1-0 win against UC Davis to help secure the unbeaten season.
Cooper was named the WCC Coach of the Year after finishing the season as the sole unbeaten team in NCAA Division I men’s soccer. The Gaels went 17-0-1 en route to earning a national seed in the NCAA Tournament and the first conference title for the Gaels since the 2011 season. Cooper earns his third WCC Coach of the Year honor after also claiming the award in that 2011 season as well as the 2009 season.
Player of the Year: Camden Riley, Pacific
Defensive Player of the Year: Wouter Verstraaten, Pacific
Goalkeeper of the Year: Remi Prieur, Saint Mary’s
Freshman of the Year: Sebastian Schacht, Saint Mary’s
Coach of the Year: Adam Cooper, Saint Mary’s
2018 WEST COAST CONFERENCE MEN’S SOCCER FIRST TEAM
Name School Year Position
Miguel Berry San Diego Jr. F
Stephen Dougherty Saint Mary’s Sr. M
Anders Engebretsen Saint Mary’s Jr. F
Bob Groenendijk Pacific Sr. D
Gio Magana-Rivera Portland Jr. M
Benji Michel Portland Jr. F
Remi Prieur Saint Mary’s Jr. GK
Camden Riley Pacific Sr. M
Jake Rudel Saint Mary’s Jr. F
Jakub Svehlik Saint Mary’s Jr. M
Wouter Verstraaten Pacific Sr. D
2018 WEST COAST CONFERENCE MEN’S SOCCER SECOND TEAM
Name School Year Position
Sean Bowman San Francisco Sr. M
Santiago Digiuseppe San Francisco Sr. M
Brandon Gillingham Santa Clara Sr. M
Jonathan Jimenez Pacific Jr. F
Henry Lander San Diego Jr. D
Rey Ortiz Portland Jr. M
Anthony Porreco Loyola Marymount Sr. M
Miles Robinson Santa Clara Jr. M
Javier Ruiz Duran Santa Clara Soph. M
Bar Twito San Francisco Soph. D
Filippo Zatarin Saint Mary’s Soph. D
2018 WCC MEN’S SOCCER HONORABLE MENTION
Josiah Benjamin, San Diego; Esteban Calvo, Portland; Andreas Charalambous, Pacific; Malcolm Dixon, Portland; Andres Jimenez, Santa Clara; Gerardo Lopez, Loyola Marymount; Lionel Mills, Portland; Joseph Restani, Saint Mary’s; Ben Willis, Gonzaga; Garrett Wilson, Gonzaga
2018 WEST COAST CONFERENCE MEN’S SOCCER ALL FRESHMAN TEAM
Name School Position
Jake Arteaga Portland M
Demetrius Kigeya Gonzaga F
Cameron Martin San Francisco M
CJ Neville Loyola Marymount M
Eduardo Perez Santa Clara M
James Person Saint Mary’s D
Cooper Riley Pacific D
Jack Sauls Loyola Marymount F
Sebastian Schacht Saint Mary’s M
Jose Sosa Pacific M
Matt Wiher San Diego GK