The Pilots weren’t done bringing home the hardware after they claimed their first West Coast Conference championship since 2002 on Saturday night. In fact, the Pilots were just getting started as head coach Nick Carlin-Voigt and several key players took home postseason honors when they were announced on Tuesday.
Three Pilots, freshman forward Benji Michel, senior midfielder Eddie Sanchez and junior defender Kris Reaves were named to the All-WCC First Team. Junior goalkeeper Paul Christensen landed on the All-WCC Second Team. Junior midfielder Matthew Coffey and sophomore defender Lionel Mills were All-WCC honorable mention.
A pair of freshmen, Gio Magaña-Rivera and Michel, were named to the conference’s All-Freshman team.
But the awards don’t stop there as three Pilots were personally honored. Michel, who led the WCC in goals with 10, brought home the freshman of the year award in the WCC. Christensen was named the goalkeeper of the year in the WCC despite making the conference’s second team. And Eddie Sanchez became the first Pilot to be named men’s soccer player of the year in the WCC since 2003.
With fourth-most goals in the conference, Sanchez ended the regular season tied for fourth in the conference. He also added seven assists, many of which were smooth connections between he and Michel. The duo was electric throughout the regular season and posed big problems for opposing defenses game in and game out.
And it came as no surprise when first year head coach Nick Carlin-Voigt was named the coach of the year in the conference after taking over a squad that posted a 3-12-3 record while going 1-6-0 in WCC play in 2015. His recruiting and coaching brought out the best in the 2016 team as they finished the regular season at 12-5-1 while posting a 6-1-0 WCC record, good enough to earn them the WCC championship, the team’s first in 14 years.
All of the records, goals, assists and postseason awards will have to be forgotten tonight as the Pilots play in their first playoff game in seven years. They will face No. 22 New Mexico Lobos. The winner will move on to face the Washington Huskies on Nov. 20 in Seattle. It will be the end of the road for the loser.
If the regular season play and coaching, highlighted by the postseason awards, are any indication of the team’s postseason play, they should be getting ready for a deep run into the playoffs.
