UCSB men’s soccer player Chris Pontius was named to Top Drawer Soccer’s Team of the Season on Friday, the only Big West player to make the prestigious First Team.
Pontius was honored earlier this week with his second consecutive All-Big West First Team award, the lone Gaucho player to make the conference’s first team. Pontius, however, missed out on repeating as the Big West’s Offensive Player of the Year despite leading the conference with 32 points.
UCSB, which finished second in the conference and received a first-round bye into the NCAA Tournament, will play the winner of the Cal-San Francisco game at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Harder Stadium.
Pontius finished the season with a career-high 14 goals and four assists, moving up into fifth-place all-time in UCSB history with 29 career goals.
“It’s a great honor, and I’m very pleased to receive this award,” Pontius said. “This award is for all my teammates, too, because I couldn’t have done this without them.”
To help illustrate how important Pontius was to the Gauchos and the premier player he was in the Big West, only two other players from the conference made Top Drawer’s Team of the Season list, and each were Third Team honorees.
UC Davis’ Quincy Amarikwa, the Big West Offensive Player of the Year with 31 points, and UC Irvine’s David Sias, the Defensive Player of the Year, were named to Top Drawer’s Third Team.
Matt Hurst is a UCSB assistant director of athletics communications.