WSOC: Leonard named CW Player of the Year
Record breaking season capped with conference award
VANCOUVER - After a record breaking season on the pitch for the Calgary Dinos, Montana Leonard was named the Canada West women's soccer Player of the Year on Thursday.
The fifth-year forward from Calgary, Alta. scored a conference record 17 times in 2021, breaking the previous record of 16 set just a season ago in 2019-20.
Leonard's record breaking season helped the Dinos to a 9-2-1 mark during the regular season, and a second place finish in the conference's Central Division.
The conference also handed out three other individual major awards on Thursday. UBC's Sophia Ferreira was named the Rookie of the Year, Mount Royal's Janai Martens was honoured with the Student-Athlete Community Service Award and Trinity Western Spartans head coach Graham Roxburgh was named the Coach of the Year.
In addition to the individual awards, the conference also announced the Trinity Western Spartans and Victoria Vikes as co-winners of the Canada West Fair Play Award, given annually to the program least penalized throughout the season.
For more on each of the award winners, click the header below:
WOMEN'S AWARD WINNERS
- Player of the Year: Montana Leonard, Calgary Dinos
- Rookie of the Year: Sophia Ferreira, UBC Thunderbirds
- Coach of the Year: Graham Roxburgh, Trinity Western Spartans
- Student-Athlete Community Service: Janai Martens, Mount Royal Cougars
- Fair Play Award: Trinity Western Spartans & Victoria Vikes
The Canada West season will come to a close this weekend with the Canada West Final Four is set to kick off in Langley, B.C. on Friday.
The hosts and top seed out of the West Division, the Trinity Western Spartans (11-0-1) take on the top seed from the East Division, the Saskatchewan Huskies (7-2-3) in the first of two semifinals at 4:30 p.m. PDT.
The MacEwan Griffins (10-2-0), the No. 1 seed out of the Central Division will face the second seed out of the West Division, the UBC Thunderbirds (9-1-2), in the second semifinal at 7:30 p.m. PDT.
Saturday's bronze medal match is set for 4:30 p.m. PDT, with the championship to follow at 7:30 p.m. PDT. All four matches will be available live on Canada West TV Presented by Co-op.