Soccer star Mateo Brazinha and volleyball standout Lauren Attieh earned men's and women's athlete of the year honours at the University of the Fraser Valley athletics and campus recreation department's annual awards banquet on Wednesday (April 9).
Brazinha established a new men's soccer program record with 17 points (eight goals and nine assists) and helped the Cascades advance to Canada West's final four round. The eight goals was tops in CW and the nine assists were the most in both CW and U Sports. He became the first men's soccer player to lead CW in goals and assists since 2012. Brazinha also became the first-ever Cascades to be named CW player of the year.
He beat out basketball player Dario Lopez and volleyball's Jonas Van Huizen for the honour.
Attieh started every game for the women's volleyball team and was a big part in the club's first place finish. She averaged 3.41 kills per set and 4 points per set in the regular season, and 3.6 kills and 4.35 points per set in the playoffs. She finished the season fifth in conference kills, fourth in total points and seventh in aces, as women's volleyball topped the regular season standings for the first time in program history. Attieh also earned CW first-team all-star honours.
Women's soccer player Kiana Langston, golfer Morgan Best and women's basketball player Julia Tuchscherer were the other finalists.
Other winners included Emerson Toop (women's soccer) and Dante Colebourne (men's soccer), who took home the rookie of the year awards. Maya Drisner (rowing) was selected as this year's recipient of the Jen Simpson Memorial Leadership Award, while Nikki Cabuco (women's basketball) and Easton Sarich (men's volleyball) were named co-winners of the Cascades Community Athlete of the Year award.
Non-athlete award winners consisted of: Colby Stobbe (broadcast) – Cascades Crew award and Coyaca Li and Sahil Dhaliwal split the student therapist award.
Teams also announced their respective most valuable players for 2024-25 and winners were:
Men's basketball:
MVP - Dario Lopez
Defensive player of the year – Uyi Ologhola
Women's basketball:
MVP - Julia Tuchscherer
Offensive player of the year – Maddy Gobeil
Men's soccer:
MVP - Mateo Brazinha
Defensive player of the year – Jackson Cowx
Women's soccer:
MVP - Kiana Langston
Defensive player of the year – Kenzie Fitzgerald
Men's volleyball:
MVP - Jonas Van Huizen
Defensive player of the year – Tyson Ardell
Women's volleyball:
MVP - Lauren Attieh
Defensive player of the year – Emily Matsui
Men's golf:
Eli Greene
Women's golf:
Morgan Best
Rowing:
Peter Inden
For more information on the event, visit gocascades.ca.
