Medhi Ballouchy Earns All-America Honors
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara University men's soccer player Medhi Ballouchy was named to the NSCAA All-America Third Team on Sunday. The honor is the first national award of Ballouchy's career. He was named to the NSCAA All-Far West Region First Team earlier this year after earning a spot on the All-Midwest Region First Team as a freshman at Creighton.
In only his first year with the program, Ballouchy became one of the Bronco's main offensive weapons in 2004. Starting all but one match this season, he led Santa Clara to a 15-6-0 record and a berth in the NCAA Championship Tournament. The Casablanca, Morocco native paced the Broncos with 15 points on the season. He also was tops on the team and second in the conference with nine assists.
"Medhi is very deserving of this All-America honor" said head coach Cameron Rast. "It is not only a great credit to him as a player, but also to the quality of our program, which allows players to be creative in their play."
A member of the All-West Coast Conference First Team, Ballouchy earned a number of awards throughout the season, including WCC Player of the Month honors for September. The sophomore midfielder was also named MVP of the diadora and GMU/Comfort Inn Classics, while also earning a spot on the Santa Clara/adidas Classic All-Classic team. He was also honored with a spot on the College Soccer News and Soccer America Teams of the Week on September 6.
Ballouchy was one of only two players from the WCC to earn All-America honors, as Loyola Marymount's Matt Kovar joins Ballouchy on the third team.
NSCAA/adidas First Team
GK - Chris Sawyer (Notre Dame)
D - Ugo Ihemelu (SMU)
D - Drew Moor (Indiana)
D - Gonzalo Segares (VCU)
MF - Mike Enfield (UCLA)
MF - C.J. Klaas (Washington)
MF - Sacha Kljestan (Seton Hall)
MF - Danny O'Rouke (Indiana)
F - Justin Moose (Wake Forest)
F - Randi Patterson (UNC Greensboro)
F - Ryan Pore (Tulsa)
F - Jeff Rowland (New Mexico)
NSCAA/adidas Second Team
GK - Brad Guzan (South Carolina)
D - Jeff Larentowicz (Brown)
D - Tony Lochhead (UC Santa Barbara)
D - Matt Oliver (Virginia)
D - Michael Parkhurst (Wake Forest)
MF - Kevon Harris (Old Dominion)
MF - Scott Jones (UNC Greensboro)
MF - Guy Melamed (Boston College)
MF - Dayton O'Brien (Memphis)
F - Sasha Gotsmanov (Rhode Island)
F - Chris Rolfe (Dayton)
F - Edwin Ruiz (Hartwick)
F - Scott Sealy (Wake Forest)
NSCAA/adidas Third Team
GK - Jay Nolly (Indiana)
D - Kevin Coleman (La Salle)
D - Hunter Freeman (Virginia)
D - Matt Kovar (Loyola Marymount)
MF - Medhi Ballouchy (Santa Clara)
MF - Blake Camp (Duke)
MF - Troy Lesesne (College of Charleston)
MF - Jamal Sheteiwi (Kentucky)
F - Justin Cook (Ohio State)
F - Jason Garey (Maryland)
F - Drew McAthy (UC Santa Barbara)
F - Dominic Oduro (VCU)
F - Abe Thompson (Maryland)
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Ballouchy Earns Second All-America Award
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara University men's soccer player Medhi Ballouchy earned his second All-America honor of 2004 on Thursday when he was named to College Soccer News' All-America Second Team. Earlier this week, Ballouchy was selected to the NSCAA/adidas All-America Third Team.
In only his first year with the program, Ballouchy became one of the Bronco's main offensive weapons in 2004. Starting all but one match this season, he led Santa Clara to a 15-6-0 record and a berth in the NCAA Championship Tournament. The Casablanca, Morocco native paced the Broncos with 15 points on the season. He also was tops on the team and second in the conference with nine assists.
A member of the All-West Coast Conference First Team, Ballouchy earned a number of awards throughout the season, including WCC Player of the Month honors for September. The sophomore midfielder was also named MVP of the diadora and GMU/Comfort Inn Classics, while also earning a spot on the Santa Clara/adidas Classic All-Classic team. He was also honored with a spot on the College Soccer News and Soccer America Teams of the Week on September 6.
Along with his All-America recognition, Ballouchy was named to the NCSAA/adidas All-Far West Region team this season after earning All-Midwest region honors while at Creighton in 2002.
Ballouchy was the only WCC player to be named to the first or second teams, while San Francisco's Aaron Chandler earned third team recognition.
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Eight Broncos Honored by the West Coast Conference
Eight Santa Clara University men's soccer players were honored by the West Coast Conference today as the WCC announced the men's soccer All-West Coast Conference Teams. Medhi Ballouchy and Will Weatherly were each named to the All-WCC First Team, while senior Jason Pan was named to the All-WCC Second Team.
"I am very pleased that these players received the recognition that they did from the West Coast Conference," said head coach Cameron Rast. "Each of these young men are very deserving of these honors."
Ballouchy, who was the conference's Player of the Month in September and the first 2004 recipient of the WCC Player of the Week award, paced the Broncos in the regular season with 14 points. The Casablanca, Morocco native also led the team and ranked second in the WCC with eight assists on the season.
A senior co-captain, Weatherly was named to the first team for the second straight season. One of two Broncos' to start all 20 matches this season, Weatherly scored two goals and recorded three assists in 2004.
Another of the Bronco co-captains, Pan earns his first such honor from the conference. A starter on the SCU back line in every match this season, Pan has anchored a defense that ranks 10th in the country with a .700 goals against average. This season, Santa Clara has posted 11 shutouts, a total that ranks third in the SCU record books.
Freshman Peter Lowry, sophomore Keith DeVey, junior Ryan Purtell and sophomore Hector Guzman were each received WCC Honorable Mention, while Lowry and Matthew Hatzke were named to the All-Freshman Team.
San Francisco's Aaron Chandler won the conference's Player of the Year honor, while Don Head coach Erik Visser was named Coach of the Year after leading USF to the WCC Championship and a postseason berth. Portland's Michael Gavin earned the Freshman of the Year award, while Matt Kovar of Loyola Marymount was named the WCC Defensive Player of the Year.
17th-ranked Santa Clara (15-5-0) will head into the postseason on Friday with a 1:30 p.m. NCAA First Round match-up with California in Berkeley, Calif. The match marks the second straight and 15th overall NCAA Championships appearance for the Broncos, who won the National Championship in 1989.
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Weatherly Named ESPN Academic All-American
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara University men's soccer player Will Weatherly was named to the 2004 ESPN Academic All-America Third Team on Monday. The honor is the first of his career after being named to the CoSIDA District VIII Academic All-America Team in each of the last two seasons.
Earlier this season, the Bellevue, Wash. native was named to the CoSIDA District VIII Academic All-America Team for the second straight season. In order to be nominated for national recognition, a player must first earn All-District honors.
Weatherly is an accounting major at Santa Clara, currently boasting a 3.653 cumulative grade point average. This past summer, Weatherly interned at Price Waterhouse in preparation for his career after graduation from the Mission Campus.
On the field, Weatherly was an integral part of the Broncos' success in 2004. The senior forward ranked fourth on the team this season with eight points from two goals and four assists. Weatherly's assist total ranked second among the Broncos, helping to lead him to a spot on the All-West Coast Conference First Team. A team co-captain, he was also one of only two player to start every match this year.
Weatherly is the West Coast Conference's only representative on the Academic All-America teams. Only three players from District VIII appeared on any of the three teams as Washington's Chris Eylander and Cal Poly's Jonathan Young also received third team recognition. St. John's Matt Groenwald was named the ESPN Academic All-American of the Year with a 3.79 g.p.a in biology.