2018 CCAA Men's Soccer All-Conference Team

SAN RAMON, Calif. -- Five Cal Poly Pomona men's soccer players earned postseason recognition to highlight Thursday's release of the 2018 California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Men's Soccer All-Conference Team.  Senior defender Nadeer Ghantous and junior midfielders Cyro Oliveira and Jimmie Villalobos were named to the All-CCAA First Team while senior goalkeeper Jakob Hansen and sophomore midfielder Eduardo Faria garnered All-CCAA Honorable Mention nods.

Ghantous, from Hifa, Israel, becomes one of only a few in program history to be named to the All-CCAA Team all four years of his career, including three straight All-CCAA First Team honors.  He has appeared in all 17 games this season, logging the most minutes of any field player for CPP (1,464).  He has scored two goals in 2018, one in a 2-1 win over Notre Dame de Namur on Sept. 15 and the other in a 3-0 win at Cal State East Bay on Oct. 21.  He anchors a defense that has posted a 1.27 goals against average and five shutouts.

Oliveira, a native of Bauru, Brazil, has handed out eight assists this season, the third-most in the CCAA this season, and the 26th-most in the nation.  Many of his assists have come from corner kicks, as he has taken the majority of CPP's 111 corners this year, which is an average of 6.53 a game, the most in the CCAA this season and the 12th-highest corners per game average in the nation.  Oliveira also has two goals to his name this season, one in a 2-1 loss at Fresno Pacific back on Sept. 5th, and the other in a 1-0 victory over Chico State on Sept. 30.  This is the first All-CCAA award for Oliveira in his career.

Villalobos, hailing from Oasis, Calif., is the CCAA's fifth-leading scorer this season, netting eight goals, matching last year's output.  Three of his goals were game-winners, two of which were golden -- Aug. 31 against Montana State Billings and Sept. 15 against Notre Dame de Namur.  This is the second straight All-CCAA First Team award for Villalobos.

Hansen, from Corona, Calif., earns All-CCAA accolades in his first and only season as the starting goalkeeper for the CCAA regular season champion Broncos, posting an 11-5 overall record making 50 saves in 1,466 minutes, including five shutouts.  Faria, a native of Porto Alegre, Brazil, also notched his first All-CCAA award, scoring two goals and passing out three assists in 13 games for CPP this season.

Cal Poly Pomona, which captured the CCAA regular season title for the first time in program history and the No. 1 seed in the CCAA Championship Tournament, will take on No. 4 seed Cal State San Bernardino Friday night at Triton Soccer Stadium in La Jolla.  Kickoff is set for 7:00 pm.  The winner will advance to Sunday's CCAA championship match at 2:00 pm against the winner of the other semifinal match on Friday between No. 2 seed Cal State L.A. and No. 3 seed Chico State.

For more information regarding the CCAA Championship Tournament, click here.
 

2018 CCAA Men's Soccer All-Conference Team
Offensive Player of the Year:	Danny Ortiz, Cal State San Bernardino
Defensive Player of the Year:	Aydan Bowers, San Francisco State
Goalkeeper of the Year:	Damion Lewis, Chico State
Newcomer of the Year:	Daniel Simonis, Cal State LA
Freshman of the Year:	Eddie Zecena, Chico State
Coach of the Year:	Darren Leslie, Cal State San Bernardino
All-CCAA First Team
Name	Yr.	Pos.	School	Hometown
Morten Bjoershol	So.	D	Cal State LA	Oslo, Norway
Aydan Bowers	Sr.	D	San Francisco State	Murrieta
Jeremiah Eguije	Sr.	F	Chico State	Benin City, Nigeria
Nadeer Ghantous	Sr.	D	Cal Poly Pomona	Hifa, Israel
Tim Klefisch	Jr.	M	Cal State LA	Leverkusen, Germany
Damion Lewis	Sr.	GK	Chico State	Miami, Fla.
Leonardo Nogueira	Jr.	F	Cal State LA	Brasilia, Brazil
Cyro Oliveira	Jr.	M	Cal Poly Pomona	Bauru, Brazil
Danny Ortiz	Sr.	F	Cal State San Bernardino	El Paso, Texas
Fabian Roman	Sr.	M	Cal State San Bernardino	Corcoran
Jimmie Villalobos	Jr.	M	Cal Poly Pomona	Oasis
All-CCAA Second Team
Name	Yr.	Pos.	School	Hometown
Andres Aguirre	So.	D	Cal State San Bernardino	Montclair
D'Morea Alewine	Jr.	M	Cal State Dominguez Hills	Monrovia
Gus Baxter	Jr.	F	Humboldt State	Snohomish, Wash.
Alexander Brems	Jr.	GK	Cal State LA	Odense, Denmark
Robin Lindahl	Jr.	F	Cal State LA	Lillestroem, Norway
Luis Lopez	Jr.	M	Cal State Monterey Bay	Martinez
Matt Merrill	Sr.	M	UC San Diego	Mission Viejo
Antonio Rosas	Jr.	D	Cal State LA	Monrovia
Sebastian Santos	So.	F	Sonoma State	Sacramento
Kelvin Uribe	Jr.	D	UC San Diego	Lake Forest
Eddie Zecena	Fr.	M	Chico State	Panorama City
Honorable Mention
GK – Jacob Hansen (CPP); Bryan Hernandez (HSU); Peter Swinkels (SFSU); F –Jonathan Ayala (CSUEB); Jonathan Sabouri (UCSD); Walmer Martinez (CSUMB); Carlos Trujeque (SFSU); M –Jonathan Cuevas (CSUEB); Eduardo Faria (CPP); Gustav Fink (SFSU); Moses Gutierrez (SFSU); Ronan McEnroe (CHICO); Adrian Rebollar (CSUMB); Ethan Waters (HSU); Adrian Yepez (STAN); Carlos Zarate (CSULA); D –Martin Calderon (HSU); Garrett Hogbin (CHICO), Jacob Penner (CSUMB); Jeff Powers (UCSD); Tariq Pulskamp (SFSU); Andrew Stalboerger (CSUSM).