UCSB’s Rodney Michael was named Big West Freshman of the Year, highlighting a group of four Gauchos to earn All-Big West honors as announced by the conference on Tuesday afternoon.
Michael also earned First-Team All-Big West honors.
Senior Randy Mendoza was selected for the third-time, capping his three-year career with a Second-Team selection while freshmen Adrian Adames and Alan Carrillo were awarded with Honorable Mention and All-Freshman Team selections, respectively.
Michael was a bright spot for the UCSB offense during conference play, scoring six of the team’s 13 total goals in 10 matches. The Freetown, Sierra Leone native and Dunn School product finished second in the Big West with 15 points, after tallying a team-high three assists to go along with his six goals. Michael earned Big West Offensive Player of the Week honors earlier in the year after he totaled two goals and two assists while leading UCSB to a 5-2 win over Cal State Fullerton and a 3-1 win over UC Riverside to open conference play.
In a road match at Sacramento State, Michael became the first Gaucho all-season to have a multi-goal game and did so by scoring the golden goal in overtime for a 2-1 win. He becomes the seventh Gaucho in the past nine years to be named Freshman of the Year, and the ninth overall.
After earning Big West Honorable Mention accolades the past two seasons, Mendoza snagged a spot on the Second Team to end his standout career. In his three seasons with UCSB, Mendoza has been a defensive anchor at left back and the 2017 season was no different. The Santa Paula, Calif. native helped the Gauchos to seven shutouts, including three against conference opponents, while holding teams to a goals against average of 1.34. He even added to the offensive end with two assists in a big win over Cal State Fullerton.
Adames joined Mendoza on the back line, making an immediate impact as a freshman defender. With nine starts in 10 conference matches, the Bilbao, Spain native displayed a knack for limiting the opposing team’s best player and even added a goal and an assist on the offensive end.
Rounding out the All-Conference selections is freshman Alan Carrillo, who was named to the All-Freshman Team. Carrillo has been a staple in front of the goal for UCSB, earning Big West Defensive Player of the Week honors twice this season while racking up 50 saves overall and 29 in league play. He has at least one save in every Big West match and tied his career-high with eight saves on the road at UC Irvine. His three shutouts against conference opponents leads the Big West and his seven shutouts overall ranks 22nd in the nation.
UC Irvine’s Giovanni Godoy was named Offensive Player of the Year while Ross McPhie from Cal State Fullerton and Paul Geyer from Sacramento State were named Co-Midfielders of the Year. Defensive Player of the Year was awarded to Roy Boateng from UC Davis and Henrik Regitnig from CSUN was named Goalkeeper of the Year. Coach of the Year went to Dwayne Shaffer of the North Division Champion, UC Davis.
UCSB (6-7-5, 4-3-3 Big West) hosts UC Riverside on Wednesday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. in the Big West Tournament quarterfinals at Harder Stadium.