Coach and Player of the Year Honors Shared for Men’s Soccer in WSC North

The Western State Conference North Division Coach and Player of the Year honors were both shared in 2017. Santa Monica College and Santa Barbara City College Head Coaches Tim Pierce and John Sisterson were both named the Coach of the Year, while SBCC's sophomore forward Victor Chavez and Allan Hancock College's sophomore forward Migel Gomez were each named the Player of the Year. 

Pierce helped guide Santa Monica College to a second place finish in the WSC North, with 18 points tying Oxnard College. It's the first Coach of the Year award for Pierce. The Corsairs would finish the season 14-4-5 overall, including a 5-2-3 mark in WSC North play. Santa Monica would go on to earn the #9 overall seed in the 2017 CCCAA SoCal Playoffs. The Corsairs defeated Rio Hondo College 2-1 in the opening round, before falling in the regional semi-finals to #1 overall seed Cerritos College 2-1. 

Sisterson earned the Coach of the Year nod for the third time in his 12 year tenure with the Vaqueros. Santa Barbara went 17-1-4 overall on the season, and finished WSC North play with a 9-0-1 record, winning the program's 10th WSC Championship. The Vaqueros would go on to be seeded third in the SoCal Post-Season picture, defeating #14 San Bernardino Valley College in the opening round 2-0 and knocking off conference rival and #11 seeded Oxnard College 4-2 in the regional semi-finals. Alas their run ended in the conference finals when they lost a hotly contested match to #2 overall seed Mt. San Antonio College 1-0. 

Gomez tallied an impressive 47 points on the season, leading the entire WSC and finishing third in the State in that category. Gomez netted 14 goals (second in the WSC) and handed out 19 assists (tops in the WSC, 3rd in State). in WSC North play, Gomez scored eight goals and notched seven assists. 

Chavez led the sixth most potent offense in the State with a conference best 16 goals in 2017. Chavez would finish with 38 points, after adding six assists. Of his 16 goals and six assists, seven goals and four assists would come against WSC North competition. Chavez would be one of 11 Vaqueros to be named All-WSC North

2017 Men's Soccer All-Western State Conference North Division List